Sinbad rises from Wikipedia-created grave

Sinbad rises from Wikipedia-created grave
BY BRENT HOPKINS, Staff Writer
Article Last Updated: 03/16/2007 10:30:24 PM PDT

This just in - Sinbad is still not dead.

The comedian, who lives in Hidden Hills, was declared dead earlier this week by a post on the online encyclopedia Wikipedia.org. The 50-year-old star of "Jingle All the Way" and "Necessary Roughness" reportedly died of a heart attack that he did not actually suffer.

"He's alive and kicking," said Sandra Ordonez, communications manager for the Wikimedia Foundation, parent organization to the popular Web site. "We are not an authoritative source."

An anonymous user first posted word of Sinbad's alleged demise at 8:36 p.m. Wednesday, which was subsequently corrected by someone else an hour or so later. The original poster re-inserted the erroneous obituary, leading to what Ordonez called "a vandalism war."

Word of the hoax spread. The Drudge Report picked it up. The Associated Press called.

Sinbad had already heard the chatter even before it made Wikipedia.

"Saturday I rose from the dead and then died again," he told the AP.

On Friday, Wikipedia issued an apology to him and his fans for any confusion. It also locked the site to prevent future vandalism, ensuring his continued status among the living.

"I was a little worried, since I've got a show coming up with him," said an employee of the Cache Creek Casino Resort in Northern California, who asked to remain anonymous but confirmed Sinbad will indeed still perform March 31. "I had one of my (information technology) guys get on it right away and we saw that it wasn't true. It'll probably give him at least 15 minutes of new material."
Sinbad joins Abe Vigoda and Sir Paul McCartney among the ranks of people once wrongly considered to be dead.