Jason Paige, the musician behind the iconic Pokémon theme tune, has been accused of scamming a young fan at a card show.
The singer, actor and writer, dubbed ‘The Voice Of A Generation,’ is best known for singing the theme to the hit ’90s cartoon.
Accusations of Paige’s ‘scam’ arose when he allegedly attended a card show in Orlando, where he’s said to have made a deal with a pair of children.
In a video uploaded to Instagram by a user called Boostersandbangers, the two youths trade a selection of cards to the vendor for cash and a rare Gengar, valued at $150 (£112).
Soon after, they return empty-handed, informing the seller that they traded their Gengar for a signed card from Paige.
The children are shocked to learn that they’ve seemingly been traded a fake, with the vendor describing Paige as a ‘con artist.’
‘It’s a graded signed card, but it’s not real,’ one boy says as he shows boostersandbangers the trade he’s made.
‘You traded the Gengar I gave you to Jason Paige?’ the vendor replies, shocked.
‘Is that good or bad?’ the boy asks, before telling his brother: ‘I think you made a bad trade.’
‘You guys just traded Jason Paige for a fake card,’ the seller clarifies.
‘Yeah, he said that it would be a better deal on our side,’ says one of the youngsters, before Boostersandbangers brands him a ‘con artist.’
‘I’m gonna kill him,’ says the second boy, before heading back to Paige’s stand to ask for his original card back.
The video ends with block text saying, ‘I hope he traded back.’
In the comments below the video, fans shared their dismay at what had apparently transpired, with trainerxtre describing it as ‘genuinely disheartening.’
Zizounacollectibles called it ‘insane’ behaviour, while collectorsvoyage said that it was ‘so sad to see.’
In addition to those tagging in Paige’s Instagram account for some kind of response, others were full of concern as to whether the kids managed to get their original card back.
Since then, Paige’s social media has also been inundated with comments demanding that he ‘give back’ the Gengar.
In a follow-up YouTube video, Boostersandbangers addressed what had allegedly happened, describing it as an ‘injustice.’
Acknowledging that there was no video footage of Paige’s own trade, he went on to say that he was taking the boys’ story at face value.
‘This to me feels like a scam,’ he said. ‘It made me happy to give [the card] to him, and then it made me really upset to hear that it got taken away from him on a lie, essentially.’
In the full video, the vendor went on to say that he had been contacted by Paige’s ‘manager,’ who reportedly said that he should be sued for ‘defamation of character.’
He also alleged that the said manager had been at Paige’s vendor table and may have been behind the bum trade.
‘Just come out, blame your manager for selling the cards, say, “I don’t condone that type of behaviour, that’s not who I am”,’ he urged Paige.
He finished by claiming that Paige’s team is refusing to play at any further events if Boostersandbangers is in attendance.
‘Now this is all alleged; this is what I’ve heard,’ he said.
Paige is best known for singing the original theme tune to the English version of the Pokémon anime series.
He has also performed jingles for brands such as Coke, Pepto-Bismol, and Taco Bell.
He has also performed as lead singer for the band Blood Sweat & Tears and sung (and beat-boxed) with Aerosmith, including their acoustic rendition of Pink on the Howard Stern show in 1997.
Paige continues to perform his most famous song at collectors’ events and on special Pokémon-related occasions.
This includes his reprising the song for Pokémon Go in 2016 and at a Republican rally in 2012, where he played a parody version of the song for then-candidate Rand Paul.
Metro has contacted Jason Paige’s team for comment on this story.
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