With Shaquille O’Neal being a 7′ 1″ black man who weighs over 324 pounds who is iconic from his time in the world of basketball, it seems incredibly hard to mistake him for someone else. But thanks to something called The Mandella Effect, it seems to be happening constantly to a 64-year-old comedian.
In a recent interview with LX.com, Paige Bryan and Royce Adkins discussed how their father David Adkins, better known as Sinbad, keeps being constantly mistaken for Shaq. “Our dad has been mistaken for Shaquille O’Neal more times than makes logical sense,” Paige said. The two siblings theorize this is because fans seem to remember him as the main star of a 90s movie called Shazaam despite the film not existing.
The plot that people “remember” the film having gently resembles Shaq’s appearance in Kazaam but with minor details switched arround. “Now people will be like, ‘Oh no, I’m not talking about ‘Kazam.’ I’m talking about your dad’s [movie].,’” said Royce, with his sister backing him up. “All of a sudden my peer group was like, ‘hey, remember that movie your dad did when he was a genie?’”
The most likely theories behind the mistake come from two other roles that Sinbad has played. In the 90s show All That, especially during the “Sinbad the Sailor” special, Sinbad often wore clothes that could be described as genie-esque which might have lead fans to misremembering a full film existing and replacing Shaq in their minds with the famous comedian.
To anyone that still believes the film may still exist, this is Paige’s final word on the subject, “It did not happen. Get over it.”
Source: LX.com
