Saturday Night Live (SNL) premiered its 50th season last weekend with guest host Jean Smart (Hacks) and musical guest Jelly Roll. As usual, the satirical show probably managed to piss off some people, but maybe no one was angrier than Spirit Halloween.
In one sketch, SNL poked fun at the seasonal pop-up’s cuckoo bird type way it appropriates abandoned storefronts every year to sell its merchandise.
“Communities are struggling. Closed stores. Shuttered businesses. Empty parking lots. When hard times hit, it’s easy to feel like no one cares. But help is on the way,” says a voiceover in the sketch. “We don’t see a dead-end town. We don’t see an abandoned Kmart. We see a spirit, a Spirit Halloween.”
The sketch continues its riff, saying the retailer provides, “vulnerable communities with the things they need most,” things like, “wigs that give you a rash, single-use fog machines, and costumes of famous characters tweaked just enough to avoid a lawsuit.”
But Spirit Halloween wasn’t having it. They responded to the show directly through social media:
“We are great at raising things back from the dead @nbcsnl,” Spirit Halloween wrote in a forked-tongued post embedded with a mock image of one of the store’s pre-packaged costumes called “Irrelevant 50-year-old TV show.” The set includes: “dated references, unknown cast members and shrinking ratings.”
We are great at raising things back from the dead @nbcsnl https://t.co/TSlPALgKJ0 pic.twitter.com/EjrYa86Erz
— Spirit Halloween (@SpiritHalloween) September 30, 2024
Spirit Halloween has been around since 1983. Although they are now infamous for “Hermet crabbing” shuttered brick-and-mortar retail chains, they also utilize their own large white tents in some locations.