"Psychic spoon-bender Uri Geller sued Nintendo for hundreds of millions of dollars on Wednesday, claiming that the Japanese game-maker turned him into an 'evil, occult Pokemon character' by naming a monster in the blockbuster cartoon series after him.

And both he and his lawyer suggested that there were elements of anti-Semitism in the character's depiction.

Geller, a former Israeli paratrooper famous for using mysterious mental powers to bend spoons, said that Nintendo Co. Ltd. 'debased' his name with the Pokemon character, a monster named 'Yun Geller' who carries a spoon and uses psychic mind-waves to give his victims bad headaches.

A Redmond, Washington, spokesman for Nintendo of America Inc., the company's U.S. subsidiary, said he could not immediately comment on the lawsuit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles.

"Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokemon character, 'Geller said in a statement. 'Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image of a bent spoon.'

Geller's lawyer, Marshall Grossman, said he would seek 'hundreds of millions' of dollars in damages and to force Nintendo to pull the character from its products.

Geller said he filed the lawsuit to protect his name 'but also to tell the world before the start of the holiday season that I have nothing whatsoever to do with these violent characters that have a negative impact on children.'

Geller, who was born in Israel and now lives in England, said he was particularly offended that the Pokemon monster is depicted with lightning bolts on his chest, which he said are reminiscent of a similar symbol used by the Nazi SS.

The monster also bears a star on his forehead, which Grossman said appeared to be a Star of David.

Grossman said the character, which is found on a Pokemon trading card and appears sporadically in cartoons, has a Japanese name which translates in English as 'Yun Geller' and is usually seen carrying a spoon.

'Uri Geller is internationally known as a spoon bender,' Grossman said. 'To duplicate his name and his signature is bad enough. But to then brand him in an evil way and place on his character the German SS lightning bolts and what appears to be a yellow Star of David is despicable.'

In December 1999, Nintendo stopped production of a Pokemon card after consumers complained that an ancient Japanese symbol on it too closely resembled a swastika.

Geller's lawsuit, which describes him as a 'world famous entertainer, author, radio personality and teacher' who has devoted his life to understanding the power of the human mind, claims that Nintendo's use of Geller's name could 'confuse and deceive' consumers into thinking that he endorsed the products."

Now this is just a load of crap. Is this guy trying to suggest Nintendo intentionally made a Jewish-Nazi Pokemon? "world famous"? Has anyone ever even heard of this guy? Besides Michael Jackson being his best man at his wedding I mean. This guy is just screwin around with the justice system so he can get a couple million dollars. Now that's the American way for ya. It's losers like this guy is why we have warning tags that say "Please don't iron cloths while wearing".

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