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In November 2000, Uri Geller, a man claiming to be a psychic who is to be able to bend spoons with psychic powers, tried to sue Nintendo for £60 million (the equivalent of US $100 million), claiming that Kadabra, known as Yungerer in Japan, was an unauthorized parody of himself. Besides Kadabra's use of bent spoons to enhance its psychic powers, the katakana for its name, ユンゲラー, is visually similar to the transliteration of his own name into Japanese (ユリゲラー).
He also claimed that Kadabra was anti-Semitic in nature, with the star on its forehead and lightning bolts resembling the logo of the Nazi SS. He is quoted as saying: "Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokémon character. Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image."
Geller lost the lawsuit. Despite this, there has not been a Kadabra card in the Trading Card Game since Skyridge in 2003 and Kadabra has not appeared in the Pokémon anime since Fear Factor Phony, perhaps as a precaution against Geller's history of lawsuits. Abra and Alakazam cards have continued to be printed, despite the fact that this makes it impossible to play Alakazam cards in matches that prevent the use of older cards without a card that specifically allows evolved Pokémon to be played. However, the only Abra card released after Skyridge, in Mysterious Treasures, has an attack that allows it to evolve directly into Alakazam, skipping the Kadabra stage.
