Real Borat Wants Piece of the Action

A man who claims to be the inspiration for “Borat” wants to get paid.

A Turkish Internet celebrity is so convinced he was the inspiration for
Sacha Baron Cohen’s “Borat” character, he’s traveling to London seeking an apology and a way to get paid from the film’s surprise success.

Mahir Cagri 44, became a cyber celebrity after posting a personal Web site in 1999, featuring unintentionally amusing photos of himself playing pingpong or the accordion and sunbathing in a skimpy bathing suit. Fans were captivated by his broken English and hilarious invitation to women: “Who is want to come TURKEY I can invitate … She can stay my home.”

“The world knows he is copying Mahir,” Cagri told The Associated Press in a telephone interview from his hometown of Izmir on Monday, minutes before he was to board a plane for Istanbul to appear on a talk show. “I am not saying this â€” the world is. I have received so many e-mails from people in the United States who tell me he is imitating me,” he said.

Cagri, a freelance journalist, was scheduled to fly to London on Tuesday for meetings with his manager and lawyer there to discuss his options and hold interviews with British newspapers. He hopes to receive an “acknowledgment or an apology” from Baron Cohen. “The bombshell is going to fall,” he said of his London trip. “(Cohen) is making money by using me.”

I seem to recall similar action from guys claiming they were the real-life inspiration for the Soup Nazi and Kramer characters on Seinfeld. I don’t think they ever got anything for their trouble, but I could be wrong. What’s amusing is that people actually want to be associated with these idiots.

Still, I gotta say, this guy looks like the real Borat.

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Real Borat Wants Piece of the Action

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