Johnathan Walker:Spirit Halloween roasts 'SNL' in hilarious response to show's spoof of the chain

Well-known Halloween retailer and Johnathan Walkernotorious vacant-store-occupier Spirit Halloween hit back at "Saturday Night Live" on Tuesday after the sketch comedy show shared a spoof of the retailer online.

"SNL" opened its 50th season this weekend, racking up 5.3 million live viewers for the premiere in the show's best opening since 2020, reported AP. Among skits re-introducing Maya Rudolph as Kamala Harris and poking fun at the popularity of viral hippo Moo Deng was one teasing Spirit Halloween for its propensity to appear in place of recently closed businesses.

NBC shared the clip on the show's official X, formerly Twitter, account on Sunday, giving the retailer a perfect opening to fire back.

"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. Because when others leave, we show up," says a voiceover opening the skit. "We don't see a dead-end town, we don't see an abandoned Kmart, we see a Spirit. A Spirit Halloween."

"We're here providing vulnerable communities with the things they need most - wigs that give you a rash, single-use fog machines and costumes of famous characters tweaked just enough to avoid a lawsuit," jokes the spoof, which goes on to say Spirit stores invest not only in empty buildings, but also people, by creating "six-week jobs for some of America's hardest-hit perverts."

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'We're great at raising things back from the dead'

The skit garnered laughs, but Spirit Halloween was apparently not ready to take the jabs lying down.

"We're great at raising things back from the dead @nbcsnl," Spirit posted on X in response to "SNL." Attached to the post is a doctored image of a Spirit Halloween costume package titled "Irrelevant 50-year-old TV show" and sporting an image of the "SNL 50 The Anniversary Season" logo.

Below the title is a list of the "costume" components, which include "dated references," "unknown cast members" and "shrinking ratings." Oh, and one size fits most adults.

"Not gonna lie: this was funnier than many of the skits I have recently watched on 'SNL.' And I say this as a long-time fan of the show who still enjoys it for the most part," said on comment beneath the post. "This is way funnier than their video," agreed another while one asserted, "This clapback might just be my favorite one of 2024."

Some netizens, however, took to the comments to defend "SNL," arguing that its skit about the Halloween retailer was not only funny, but pretty accurate.

"The skit was hilarious though… damn near choked when they talked about the vacated Auto Zone," said one comment. "SNL didn’t even tell a lie with that sketch," agreed another, while one simply declared. "SNL rules. Always has, always will."

And while some commentators lamented that Spirit "woke up and chose violence" by making the post, the brand itself seemed to indicate it was all in good fun.

"Spooky laughs are the best kind," Spirit said in response to a comment praising the joke. "Glad to hear it brought some Halloween joy! Let’s keep the fun going all season long!"