After months of arguing over whether former President Donald Trump or Florida Governor Ron DeSantis should nab the Republican presidential nomination come 2024, the right has found themselves yet again divided by another bitter debate – one centering on whether The Super Mario Bros. Movie is actually “woke.”


Since hitting theaters on Wednesday, April 5, the children’s film has emerged as a major point of contention among some of the right’s major figures, and conservative media personalities, respectively arguing whether the film’s record-smashing success is due to its anti-wokeness.


Leading the anti-work charge? None other than Turning Point USA co-founder and notable bobblehead, Charlie Kirk.

On Sunday, April 9, Kirk took a break from baffling scientists with his weirdly large head and even weirder tiny face to commend the film’s casting – namely, the fact that Mario and Luigi are played by Chris Pratt and Charlie Day instead of any Latino actors. Weird (and probably racist) flex, but ok!  



“Mario Bros just grossed $377 million—a new record for animated features—despite John Leguizamo boycotting the film because it ‘messed up the inclusion’ casting two white men, Chris Pratt and Charlie Day, as the Italian American leads,” Kirke wrote on Twitter, referencing the actor, who starred in the 1993’s Super Mario Bros., decided to boycott the flick over its apparent lack of Latino inclusion.


“Nintendo refused to let Mario Bros go woke!” Kirk concluded.


Despite garnering a myriad of responses, ranging from fan art of Mario and Luigi engaging in a steamy Game of Thrones-style makeout sesh and several questions about why, exactly, a 29-year-old dude is so weirdly obsessed with Nintendo casting, it seems not all of Kirk’s political allies were on board.



Days before Kirk’s viral comments, conservative present Anna Perez detailed her frustration with Nintendo’s decision to portray Princess Peach’s as a badass fighter rather than a damsel in distress, detailing why she believed the film was “trying to brainwash society” during a recent installment of LFATV series, Wrongthink with Anna Perez.



“Young women see stuff like this and it just brainwashes them to be a feminist to be a badass feminist and it’s not realistic,” Perez explained in a clip posted to the Right Wing Watch YouTube channel, arguing that the film may have “actual ramifications on society,” including women “getting hurt” and “getting raped.”


“Badass bitch culture is actually ruining women and it’s ruining society and nobody knows where they stand anymore,” Perez continued, adding that she felt “sick and tired of seeing unrealistic things like that.” “Please make her a helpless princess again, Ok? That’s a lot more fitting for Princess Peach. Sorry. Someone had to say it.”



Much like her Mario Foe Kirk, Perez’s comments were filled with confusion, snarky retorts, and an incredible suggestion from user HailSagan arguing that “She should open a movie theater with all that projection.” But beyond her bizarre take, the right began catching on to the right’s differing opinions on the film, taking to Twitter in an attempt to answer the $377 million question on everyone’s mind: Is The Super Mario Bros. Movie woke or not goddamnit.


“IS IT WOKE OR ANTI-WOKE MAKE UP YOUR MINDS,” wrote Twitter user @halomancer1 alongside several screengrabs of other conservative figures respectively praising and slamming the flick.



Though conservative Twitter has remained tight-lipped on a definite answer, one thing is for certain – they sure as hell won’t be enjoying this film with a nice, cold Bud Light.