Captain Lou Albano's "Just Say No" PSA

About

Captain Lou Albano's "Just Say No" PSA is a 19-second Public Service Announcement featuring the then-professional wrestler Captain Lou Albano, who implores children not to use drugs. Online, the PSA has been edited and poked fun of for it's darker tones.

Origin

In the PSA, Lou Albano, wearing a partial Mario hat (in reference to his portrayal of the Nintendo character in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!) intently tells kids not to use drugs. At the end of the speech, Albano states that, "…If you do drugs, you'll go to hell before you die," followed by a delayed, unsettling "Please."

While originally uploaded in late 2008, the PSA did not pick up steam until October 21, 2013, when an edited version of the PSA popped up, adding flames and speech distortion at the "…go to hell before you die" section.^[1]

Spread

Albano's drug PSA had not gained much attention until Twitch streamer and YouTuber Joel of Vinesauce uploaded a small clip of him editing the letters within the PSA, during his "Drug Games" stream.^[2] Later on November 30, Youtuber JonTron uploaded a review featuring various drug PSA's from the 1990's, including Lou Albano's PSA.^[3]

Between the Vinesauce video and JonTron's review, edits and reactions towards Lou Albano's "Just Say No" PSA were very popular, with many of them focusing towards the "…go to hell before you die" section of the commercial.

Various Examples

Search Interest

References