Mario wasn’t the first.
The New Jersey grandma allegedly groped by a Super Mario impersonator said she’s so shaken by the incident that she’s refusing to step foot in Times Square — near where she claims she was grabbed by a non-costumed creep five years ago.
“I will never go through Times Square again,” Cheryl Naviello vowed to The Post.
Naviello, 58, was walking down 42nd Street on Wednesday after work when she alleges the costumed character — in real life, Damon Torres — inappropriately touched her.
“I saw him approaching, and as I moved, he moved with me,” Naviello recalled. “He deliberately turned his hand and grabbed me. I jerked my leg, and he grabbed my inner thigh.
“I was so pissed, I yelled, ‘Oh, really?!’ ”
She claims Torres, 34, then sauntered away like nothing happened.
Naviello said the incident was not the first time she’s been rudely touched close to Times Square.
She claimed a man grabbed her butt five years ago on her way from the Port Authority — but she said she declined to press charges.
This time around, Naviello rushed over to two Times Square security guards to report the incident.
“I told them I was so mad and that I was about to punch a Mario in the head,” said the grandmother of two. “I think he’s a pervert. This could have been an innocent child.”
Security guards brought Naviello over to an NYPD substation where she filed a complaint. Torres, of North Bergen, NJ, was spotted outside the substation and arrested and charged with forcible touching, harassment and pot possession, cops said.
Naviello now takes an alternate route to the Port Authority, down 40th Street.
That’s because Times Square is no place for costumed characters, she said.
“You don’t know who’s under there — that’s the scary part,” she said. “Times Square is not the place for that. They should be in a place like Disney World only.”
Creepy costumed characters are sparking a real-life ruckus in Times Square. At least three masked street performers were arrested for bad behavior ranging from carrying drugs to yelling at tourists.
SUPER MARIO: Police nabbed Damon Torres, 34, for allegedly groping a 58-year-old woman and charged him with forcible touching and possession of marijuana last week.
ELMO: Adam Sandler, 48, was arrested in costume for disorderly conduct in September after allegedly screaming anti-Semitic remarks at tourists and blocking traffic.
SPIDER-MAN: An unnamed man—who works for tips near the Broadway production of “Spider-Man” — told The Post last year he had been arrested in-costume more than 25 times for a variety of reasons.