Comedian David Adkins, better known by his stage name Sinbad, has starred in many films in the 90s, including “Necessary Roughness,” “Houseguest” and even the Kenan & Kel vehicle “Good Burger.” But one movie he didn’t star in is “Shazaam,” about an incompetent genie who grants wishes to two children. However, that hasn’t stopped hundreds of people online from claiming that the film is real, believing that they saw it sometime in the 90s.
The New Statesman reports that the community of “Shazaam” truthers has proliferated on Reddit, specifically under the subreddit r/MandelaEffect. The Mandela Effect is a “theory that a large group of people with the same false memory used to live in a parallel universe,” deriving from the idea that many people believe Nelson Mandela died while in prison. On this subreddit, many share detailed memories of “Shazaam” and claim that the film has disappeared from existence.
However, what does exist is a 1996 film entitled “Kazaam,” starring basketball played Shaquille O’Neal as a genie who helps a young boy find his father, but those who believe in the existence of “Shazaam” just claim this to be a twin film, like “A Bug’s Life” and “Antz.”
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Sinbad himself has denied the existence of this film in multiple tweets. He cites a “Sinbad the Sailor” movie marathon he hosted dressed as a genie as a possible explanation for the phenomenon.
@hapotter solved the sinbad genie mystery. I hosted an afternoon of sinbad movies o 1994 (sinbad the sailor movies) pic.twitter.com/yCE65Q3aK5
— Sinbad (@sinbadbad) October 3, 2016
Have you noticed no one my age has seen this so called Sinbad Genie movie, only you people who were kids in the 90’s. The young mind !
— Sinbad (@sinbadbad) September 7, 2016
Read the full New Statesman report for a more comprehensive examination of the conspiracy theory.
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