Tokyo 2020 Wanted Lady Gaga To ‘Super Mario’ Into A Pipe At Opening Ceremony
Images via Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com and Illustration 129780736 © Vasilyrosca | Dreamstime.com
Tokyo 2020 has certainly faced its fair share of controversy and setbacks these couple of years, with the pandemic being of absolutely no help at all. And now there’s another bizarre addition to the list: the revelation that Lady Gaga was meant to make an appearance (remotely) at the Opening Ceremony dressed as Mario from the beloved Nintendo series of games.
Recently, resurfaced documents viewed by Bunshun have brought the now-scrapped plans to light. This Mario-Lady-Gaga was meant to disappear into a green warp pipe, just like the in-game mechanic, then pop back out of a real-life pipe as a real-life person.
Except the character to emerge from the pipe wouldn’t be Gaga herself, but Japanese comedian Naomi Watanabe, dressed as Gaga who’s dressed as Mario, since she’s in the country.
Confused? Don’t worry. You’re not the only one.
Gaga’s scheduled warp-pipe appearance was a play on the Rio 2016 stunt by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who appeared as Mario and disappeared down a warp pipe at the Games’ closing ceremony, which actually feels way more than five years ago now.
It’s not clear why the plan, drawn up in October last year, was scrapped by the time spring rolled around, but the fact that Nintendo pulled out of the ceremony despite having a major stake in it might have contributed to it. Again, it’s unclear why it did so, but it’s been speculated that local attitudes towards the Games could be the reason. Just before the Opening Ceremony, a survey showed that 83% of Japanese people were against the Games taking place this summer largely due to the pandemic.
While it’s unfortunate that we never got to see Lady Gaga herself dress up as Mario in perhaps a largely ambitious crossover in honor of the Olympics, it’s not to say that it’s entirely impossible. We do still have the closing ceremony, after all.
what might be the most noteworthy cut for non-J-pop followers....the Mario pipe thing from the Rio handover ceremony was set to appear again...but this time Lady Gaga would deliver a remote message, put on a Mario hat and go in the pipe...with Naomi Watanabe coming out in Tokyo pic.twitter.com/PUQRKYZHdP
— Patrick St. Michel (@mbmelodies) July 28, 2021
[via Dazed, cover image via Andrea Raffin / Shutterstock.com and Illustration 129780736 © Vasilyrosca | Dreamstime.com]
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