NEW YORK: Brazil’s Olympic city also hosts a watering hole named after Osama bin Laden, according to a story in The New York Times.

“It’s named after Osama bin Laden – the founder of Al Qaeda – because the bar’s owner’s long-bearded appearance bears a resemblance to the mastermind of the September 2001 attacks,” NYT said in its Wednesday issue.

“After September 11, everyone starting calling me Bin Laden for obvious reasons,” said the owner, José Felipe de Araújo, “The nickname stuck, so I decided to use it to my advantage.”

The report said the 60-year-old Araújo – a former manual labourer who opened his establishment more than a decade ago – receives customers from around the globe with plates of grilled sirloin, pizzas and tall bottles of Antarctica beer served cold, as is the custom in Rio de Janeiro.

Customers come until past midnight during the Games in Rio’s bar – which is not the only one named after the Al-Qaeda founder in Brazil. Another joint by the same name has built up a steady clientele in São Paulo, NYT said.