Way back in the early 90s, I was in Germany for a couple months. At the time, there were still giant US military bases with lots of personnel all over the place. The 4th Gen Camaro had just come out and Chevy was offering great deals to US service members, including those in Germany. As I explored Germany, I could…

Oohhhh, yeah, no, agree with you.

Because unlike other stage magicians, he claimed he really did have psychic powers.

It’s not the magician part of it that makes him a fraud. It’s that for decades he stated he was an actual psychic and could divine the location of underground water and do any number of other things that he 100% was just bullshitting about. That’s the fraud part.

Your bog standard magical act is an act, aka it’s a performance to entertain you through something visually deceptive. The illusion is understood as part of the act, and there’s art form and originality to the act, be it the style and charisma that the performer has, or completely new techniques developed.

He claimed to have “real” psychic powers, and used his skills and tricks to deceive scientists who studied him. Scientists can be extremely gullible, just like anyone else. Normally, when a scientist studies nature, nature isn’t lying to them - they’re not used to the idea.

Most magicians, illusionists, mind freakers, etc are clear that what they do is a highly skilled trick. They won’t tell you their secrets, but its clear that you or anyone can do what they do with enough practice, time, and support.

I think because most magicians are up front about the fact they’re doing an illusion/trick, and part of the appeal is trying to figure out how they did it, but Geller claimed to have genuine psychic abilities and the trick he’s pulling isn’t even hard to figure out.

How is he a fraud? I mean, as opposed to any other magician?

The difference is that Geller regularly insists he has real psychic powers. It’s a tricky line with magic, with regards to how much you can get away with suggesting it’s anything other than illusions and trickery, but wherever you want to draw that line, Geller will consistently be found waaaaaay past it.

Real magicans basically let you know through winks and nudges that its all an act, the real mystery is that they won’t explain how their trick works. This guy Uri was literally claiming and trying to convince people that he legitimately had psychic powers.

Because he claims he has paranormal powers given to him by extra terrestrials amongst other bull. Any good stage magician doesn’t sell you something, he just does it and you take what you want from that, a great magician will tell you he’s tricking you and proceed to do so, a magician who comes off the stage and…

He’s a fraud not because he does magic tricks, but because he claims that he uses real psychic powers.

He claimed his powers were real, actual psychic abilities, and not slights of hand or other repeatable by anyone methods.

Dude, he’s not an entertainer he’s a huxter, a charlatan, and a snake oil salesman. Penn and Teller don’t claim their illusions are anything other than trickery. 

Nintendo should NEVER bring this character back. Geller is a huge conman, most of this and the next generation have no clue who he is and it should stay that while. Throw him to the dust pile of embarrassing history to never be seen again. I am just glad Geller’s narcissism prevented him from recognizing how useful…

Most other magicians don’t claim to ACTUALLY have psychic powers, they’re forthright about being performers and entertainers. Geller has spent his entire career claiming he literally has psychic powers and using his magic tricks to fleece the credulous.

Other magicians say "this is a trick" and he says "look at these genuine superpowers I have for real"

I *almost* threw a James Randi reference in here and then couldn’t find the right way to do it haha.

RIP Amazing Randy.