John Leguizamo Says ‘Super Mario Bros’ Did A “Discrimination Cha-Cha-Cha” After Nintendo Failed To Cast Latinos in Lead Roles: “I’m Sick of That”

John Leguizamo has once again stomped on the Super Mario Bros. Movie. The actor walked the red carpet at the NGLmitú upfront event on Tuesday (May 2) where the Latino media company revealed its plans for 2023 programming and spoke about their new streaming platform mitúTV. Leguizamo, who has been vocal about his disapproval of the 2023 movie, told Decider on the carpet that he’s sick of the “discrimination cha-cha-cha” displayed by major studios. 

The new movie, based on the popular video game franchise, stars Chris Pratt and Charlie Day as the famous brother duo, whereas in the 1993 movie, Bob Hoskins played opposite Leguizamo’s Luigi. 

Leguizamo said, “The directors fought really hard to have me in the movie,” as another entity – seemingly referring to Nintendo – “would not cast Latinos in any lead roles.”

The actor continued, “For them to go back on it and not have any Latin leads, it’s like we’re going back in time. They should’ve had two Latin leads, [as] opposed to zero.”

He added, “This sort of discrimination cha-cha-cha, where we’re two steps forward and three steps back – I’m sick of that.”

Leguizamo announced in April that he’d be boycotting the release of the 2023 movie, which was made in collaboration with Universal Pictures, Illumination, and Nintendo. He also spoke out against the new animated flick in October 2022, calling it a “reboot.” He wrote on Twitter, “So glad #SuperMarioBros is getting a reboot! Obviously it’s iconic enuff. But too bad they went all white! No Latinx in the leads! Groundbreaking color-blind casting in original!”

Shortly after Leguizamo announced his boycott, Jack Black, who portrays Bowser in the 2023 movie, said he’d like to see Pedro Pascal as Wario in a sequel. While speaking with Decider, Leguizamo insisted that he had nothing to do with Black’s fan-casting and said that the studio has not reached out to him after the outcry; however, he is confident that his supporters have made their voices heard. 

“I get a lot of fans that come up and go, ‘I stand with you. I’m with you, John. I understand the reason you were boycotting was to protest – to make it apparent that there aren’t enough Latin roles and you can’t take away Latin roles,'” he noted.

Leguizamo continued to speak out against studios and actors taking away Latin roles, saying that even Spaniards shouldn’t be taking Latin roles “because they’re European whites.” He added, “We need Latin people playing Latin roles, in our Latin stories told by us.”

The NGLmitú event celebrated the recent merger between NGL, co-founded by Leguizamo and David Chitel, and media company mitú. The evening gave insight into the company’s new content initiatives and expanded platforms, as well as the launch of mitúTV, which will house three new original programs: Three Gs in a Pod, Spill the Chisme, and Girl, Let Me Tell You.

The new endeavor is one that Leguizamo and his fellow colleagues feel won’t be impacted by the current Writers Guild of America strike, as it is predominantly unscripted content for the time being. Leguizamo is offering his support to those on strike, and at last night’s event said he’d be on the picketing line today in New York City.

Speaking about the new platform, Leguizamo told Decider, “The thing that excited me the most was being able to create a platform and studio where we can make the content and all the stuff we’ve been talking about. We have our own studio, we’re doing our own thing.”

One thing they probably won’t be doing? Working with Nintendo.