By South China Morning Post | Created at 2025-04-04 03:06:37 | Updated at 2025-04-04 20:27:42
17 hours ago
For over two weeks, American author Nicholas Kaufmann’s Facebook page has been overrun with posts from strangers from the Philippines. Many call him “attorney”, some plead for him to “bring our beloved president home”, and others simply offer blessings. None of them realise they’ve got the wrong man.
“I’m not enjoying this,” Kaufmann said. “This isn’t how I wanted to get famous.”
The 56-year-old horror novelist, who lives in New York, has been caught in a bizarre case of mistaken identity after being confused for Nicholas Kaufman – a British-Israeli barrister recently appointed to defend former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Their names are nearly identical – Kaufmann, the writer, uses two Ns – but the similarities end there. One crafts supernatural thrillers; the other handles some of the world’s most complex war crimes cases.
Yet to Duterte’s diehard supporters, this distinction seems to have little sway.
“All these people contacting me from the Philippines thought I was the lawyer and wouldn’t hear otherwise,” Kaufmann told This Week in Asia. “Many of them still won’t hear otherwise.”
