CollegeHumor Mines Mandela Effect With Epic April Fools’ Day Prank Starring Sinbad

Did you know that, on Reddit, there are hundreds of people who claim to have seen a film called Shazam in the ’90s starring the comedian Sinbad as a goofy genie? All this despite the fact that there is no evidence that Shazam was ever made — and that Sinbad himself has repeatedly denied ever appearing in such a film?

Until now. In honor of April Fools’ Day, the erstwhile comedian teamed up with IAC-owned CollegeHumor to release “newly discovered” footage from the (nonexistent) film, according to a release.

“The rare footage…is now available for public consumption after remaining under lock-and-key for almost 25 years after its original debut,” according to a press release, which notes that the VHS tape was discovered behind a dilapidated Blockbuster store. “CollegeHumor is currently working on a distribution deal to release the full 93-minute film.”

The fake scene stars two siblings who can’t catch a break, whereupon a wise-cracking genie suddenly appears. Check it out right here:

All jokes aside, the mythology of Shazam falls under an Internet conspiracy theory known as ‘The Mandela Effect‘, which posits that there are parallel universes because certain groups of people share memories about events for which there is no objective evidence. (The confusion about Shazam might also stem from the fact that former basketball star Shaquille O’Neal did play a genie in the notorious nineties flop Kazaam).

Another popular example of The Mandela Effect involves the popular children’s book series The Berenstain Bears.