Nicholas Kaufmann is a prolific Crown Heights, Brooklyn-based horror and thriller e book writer. He’s not an legal professional defending former Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte towards Worldwide Prison Courtroom costs of crimes towards humanity.
That will be Nicholas Kaufman.
Kaufmann, the writer, had by no means heard of Kaufman, the lawyer, till final month, when his Fb web page was flooded with new followers — largely individuals with Filipino names.
“I assumed that these have been faux accounts, which occurs generally on Fb. I simply did not pay it a lot consideration,” he mentioned. “However then I began to get messages from many of those followers that I didn’t perceive, the messages have been simply saying issues like ‘good luck’ and ‘God bless,’ or ‘deliver our beloved president again house, Mr. Lawyer.’”
Confused, he did some fast analysis into what the messages have been referencing.
“That is when it hit me,” he mentioned. “The ex-president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, is on trial at The Hague for crimes towards humanity by the Worldwide Prison Courtroom, and his lawyer is known as Nicholas Kaufman, besides his title has one N on the finish as a substitute of two Ns.”
Duterte was arrested in March following his bloody 2016-2022 presidency. He’s on trial for the hundreds killed throughout a brutal conflict on medicine he waged all through his decades-long political profession.
However the individuals messaging Kaufmann didn’t appear to note the additional N.
He mentioned at one level, he was getting inundated with tons of of messages an hour.
“DUTERTE IS INNOCENT PLEASE BRING HIM BACK FROM THE PHILIPPINES,” learn one non-public message Kaufmann shared with Gothamist. “WE LOVE HIM . THE BEST PRESIDENT EVER.”
“Pls assist [tatay] digong,” learn one other, utilizing a nickname for DUTERTE that’s widespread amongst his admirers. Others included “let’s go duterte” and “please deliver out [sic] former president house.”
First got here the messages from the pro-Duterte crowd, then extra from the anti-Duterte crowd. Immediately, the web page that had functioned as a spot for Kaufmann to work together along with his readers grew to become a hostile surroundings.
“So, I pinned a submit on the high of my Fb web page saying, , individuals of the Philippines, I’m not Duterte’s lawyer, you’ve got acquired the mistaken man, and many others.,” Kaufmann mentioned. “And I assumed that might deal with it, however as a substitute that gave them a spot to congregate within the feedback. A few of them did not imagine me, a few of them have been like, ‘Oh, you possibly can’t idiot us, Mr. Lawyer, we all know it is you.’”
Folks even fought over the confusion, he mentioned. One commenter apologized for the mix-up: “Folks from philippines simply need to thank Mr. Kaufmann,” they wrote, utilizing the spelling for the writer after they presumably meant the legal professional. One other chided them for wanting to succeed in out to the lawyer, writing “wag na kayong magkalat NG kahihiyan sa buong mundo,” which interprets to “cease spreading disgrace everywhere in the world.”
Finally, Kaufmann determined to lock down his web page, making it non-public. He mentioned it was a troublesome alternative as a author who desires to be in contact along with his readership.
“I used to be very stunned that Duterte has so many followers, so many supporters within the Philippines, I’ve to confess,” Kaufmann mentioned. “I’ve learn up a bit extra about him since this started, and I’ve learn in regards to the costs, I’ve learn in regards to the issues he did, and I am very, very stunned. However on the identical time, , perhaps I should not be stunned as a result of we’ve got our personal authoritarian president proper now, and he is acquired hundreds of thousands of supporters.”
Kaufmann mentioned that although his Fb web page is now non-public, individuals have been discovering him on Instagram. “So it is attainable they could simply observe me round,” he mentioned.
