A Turkish Internet celebrity is so convinced he inspired 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 website 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 said in an interview Monday. “I have received so many e-mails from people in the United States who tell me he is imitating me.”
Cagri, a freelance journalist, was to fly to London to do interviews with British newspapers. “The bombshell is going to fall,” he said. “(Cohen) is making money by using me.”
The title character in the movie “Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan” was developed for “Da Ali G Show” on HBO. The 20th Century Fox movie took in $26.5 million in the U.S. its opening weekend, more than any other film.
Baron Cohen has said Borat was influenced by someone he met in southern Russia.
“I can’t remember his name – he was a doctor,” Baron Cohen said. “The moment I met him, I was totally crying. He was a hysterically funny guy, albeit totally unintentionally.”
Cagri set up his website in the hope of welcoming guests from abroad to his home.
