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Austin man gains Australian fans after mistaken identity

The two men appear to have nothing in common. They're different races, ages, and they live thousands of miles apart. But all those differences aren't enough to keep people from confusing Austin's Peter Dutton with an Australian politician on Twitter.

AUSTIN, Texas — Turns out Austin and Australia have something in common: two men named Peter Dutton.

Their shared name is sparking some confusion on social media and also helping an Austin man gain international fans.

The two men appear to have nothing in common. They’re different races, ages, and they live thousands of miles apart. But all those differences aren't enough to keep people from confusing Austin’s Peter Dutton with an Australian politician on Twitter.

“I just always say 'hey, you've reached the wrong Peter Dutton but here's his actual Twitter handle, if you'd like to send a message to the write guy',” said Dutton.

The Austin Dutton said this has been going on for about a year, but it was a tweet he sent last week that quickly increased his popularity when the other Dutton was running for prime minister.

“I said 'I hope my Australian friends will look at my page and understand I’m a 30-year-old black man in Austin',” said Dutton.

Now, that tweet has nearly 40,000 likes and has gained him lots of fans. The Twitter fame is even spilling over into his work life. He works at a popcorn company called Soul Popped and Dutton said people have spotted him selling popcorn at the Texas Farmers Market at Mueller over the weekend.

“Within the first hour, I had a couple people from Australia come up looking for me wanting to take pictures, buy popcorn, really just supporting the entire thing, they've just been loving it the same way I have,” said Dutton.

Right now, he said he has no plans on getting into politics, but with his new found fame, it seems like the Australian people have spoken.

“People started nominating me as the people's prime minister of Australia,” said Dutton.

While the Australian Dutton didn't win the election, fans are still asking Austin’s Dutton to pay them a visit. Per the people's request, he said he's working on getting him and Soul Popped popcorn oversees.

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