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Is the Real Borat Being Shut Out of the Limelight?
Mahir Cagri of Izmir, Turkey, says British comedian Sasha Baron-Cohen's character Borat is a ripoff of Cagri. "He try to take stolen many things from my side and my character," Cagri says. "I am original."
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Audiences have been drawn to Borat, British comedian Sasha Baron Cohen's character with mangled English, a lack of political correctness, and an unflattering wardrobe.
Last week, the hit mockumentary film Borat was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards -- for best picture and for best actor for Baron Cohen. The film depicts Borat, a bumbling TV journalist from Kazakhstan, as he travels across the United States.
But some observers have noted some similarities between the character and a man who became an accidental celebrity on the Internet several years ago: Turkish bachelor, Mahir Cagri.
Now 44, Cagri says Baron Cohen copied him in creating the Borat character.
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