Senate

Kentucky man goes viral after complaining his name is Brett Kavanagh

by Emily Birnbaum - 10/07/18 10:35 PM ET

A Kentucky man went viral this week after going online to lament the fact that his name is similar to that of Brett Kavanaugh, the Supreme Court nominee who was confirmed after a weeks-long controversy involving multiple allegations of sexual assault.

Kentucky’s Brett Kavanagh, who spells his name without a “u,” told local outlet Louisville Courier Journal that it became increasingly “crazy” having the same name as a man who was at the center of a dramatic nationwide controversy.

{mosads}Kavanagh went viral with a tweet saying “This is a terrible time to be named Brett Kavanagh,” which has been “liked” over one million times and retweeted more than 162,000 times.

This is a terrible time to be named Brett Kavanagh

— Brett Kavanagh (@Brett_Kavanagh) October 5, 2018

“Dude, it was literally like a machine gun,” Kavanagh told the Courier Journal. “It was like my phone caught a virus. It was constantly vibrating.”

He said that he is in sales and has to start phone calls by saying his full name.

“The first thing I say is my name is Brett Kavanagh,” he said. “And literally the first reactions is ‘Wait, what did you just say?’ I have to stop and explain it’s been a crazy couple of weeks.”

He told the newspaper that he does not have many opinions on the newly-minted Supreme Court Justice Kavanaugh.

“I don’t know the guy,” Kavanagh said. “We have the same name, our hair is kind of parted in the same direction. That’s about it. Oh, and we both like beer.”

He said the best part of going viral has been the responses from other people who share names with embattled public figures.

A man with the Twitter handle “goodmikepence,” apparently sharing the vice president’s name, replied to his original tweet saying, “Welcome to the club, brother.”

Another woman apparently named Susan Collins replied with her condolences. Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) was a pivotal swing vote in Kavanaugh’s confirmation.

“It’s ended up being this really fun forum where everyone has come out with their similar names,” Kavanagh said.

Another man named “Michael Cohen,” who apparently shares a name with President Trump’s former lawyer who pleaded guilty to eight federal counts over the summer, wrote, “We should have a club.”

Tags Donald Trump Susan Collins