Famous magician Uri Geller has tweeted an apology today to Pokemon fans and The Pokemon Company. Twenty years ago now Mr. Geller said that the Japanese name for the Pokemon Kadabra and the image were too close to his own. He famously decided to sue Nintendo in 2000 and the Kadabra Pokemon card stopped being used in Pokemon card sets from 2003. He made a statement back in 2000 saying that “Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokémon character. Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image.” Today, he has thankfully apologised for his historic actions.
While Kadabra is a word associated with magic, the Pokémon’s Japanese name—variously written as Yungerer, Yungeller, and Yun Geller—seems to be a reference to Geller
Kotaku
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