Read our briefing on violent misogynist Andrew Tate.
Andrew Tate is probably the most famous internet celebrity in the world right now.
In recent weeks he has been Googled more often than the President of America, more often than Donald Trump and more often than most major pop stars. As of this week, the #AndrewTate hashtag has over 12.7 billion views on TikTok.
Thankfully, many people still have no idea who he is, although his reach continues to grow due to a string of appearances on high-profile podcasts.
In recent weeks, he has also been the subject of a number of media pieces.
However, HOPE not hate has been monitoring Tate for years, due to his long history of extremism and his close association with major far-right figures, most notably the anti-Muslim extremist Stephen Lennon [aka Tommy Robinson].
Most coverage has understandably focused on Tate’s wild and often violent misogyny, clips of which have flooded social media in recent months.
What has attracted less notice, however, is his long history of racist statements, homophobia and links to the far right.
This is a huge moment for the major tech companies, which have a history of failing to act quickly enough to remove harmful content and creators. We know the cost this has had time and again.
That’s why HOPE not hate is launching a petition calling on tech platforms to remove Andrew Tate’s content.
A former professional kickboxer, Andrew Tate gained notoriety in 2016 after appearing on the reality TV show Big Brother.
Though born in Chicago, he was raised in Luton, England, where he became a close associate of Stephen Lennon, as well as a variety of other far-right figures in both the UK and USA.
He made his money operating a pornographic webcam business, while also producing his own direct-to-camera content for YouTube where he spoke about a range of issues, most notably revolving around anti-feminism and misogyny.
He later set up Hustler University, a subscription service that claims to help its “students” become rich. Tate has encouraged these students to manipulate social media and post masses of his content online.
He claims to have 1,000 people working for him on this, mostly on TikTok, which is why he has “conquered the platform”.
He tells his supporters they can earn significant sums by sharing his videos. In one podcast he claimed that a 16-year-old Hustler University student was making £45,000 a month from publishing his (Tate’s) clips onto TikTok.
From early April 2022, Tate’s online presence began to grow rapidly, to the point where he is one of the most recognisable figures on social media today.
Read our briefing on violent misogynist Andrew Tate.
Tate is best known for his wildly misogynistic views. He once stated:
In rants laced with sexist epithets, he has told his growing army of young male admirers that women are:
Most concerning are his statements encouraging violence against women. In one video, Tate described how he would deal with a woman who accused him of cheating:
His derogatory and dangerous comments about women are nothing new. He was removed from Big Brother in 2016 after a clip, obtained by The Sun newspaper, showed him beating a woman with a belt, calling her a “whore” and telling her to count her bruises. Tate claimed the video was edited and that the incident was consensual.
He also tweeted in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations that:
It is perhaps unsurprising, then, that in a since-deleted video Tate claimed he moved to Romania in 2017 to avoid criminal repercussions for sexual assault.
He says this is “probably 40 per cent of the reason” he moved there, continuing:
Unfortunately for Tate, all did not go according to plan. In April this year, The Daily Beast reported that his house in Romania was raided as part of an investigation into “crimes of human trafficking and rape.”
A spokesperson for the Romanian policy agency added that no-one has yet been charged or arrested, but that the investigation was ongoing.
Tate has recently denied accusations of misogyny and sought to retroactively distance himself from the organised anti-woman movement known as the ‘Manosphere’.
However, just a few years ago he described himself as part of that scene and even became close with Anthony Johnson, the notorious misogynist and far-right activist who describes himself as the “President of the Manosphere”.
Tate appeared on his podcast, spent time with him in Poland and was billed to speak at one of his conventions, though later pulled out due to “travel considerations”.
If “40%” of the reason Andrew Tate moved to Romania was to avoid investigations into sexual assault, then the other 60% appears to be a combination of racism, homophobia and criminality.
Explaining why he chose the country, he once responded:
Just as with his misogyny, this is nothing new.
In 2016, Twitter posts emerged in which Tate used a variety of racial slurs, including: “fg”, “chky”, “pi”, and “wg”. He has also long stated that multiculturalism has failed.
Such views make sense when understood alongside his long history of associating with the far right.
Having grown up in Luton, he became close with Stephen Lennon and recently admitted to having hung out with him “untold times”, describing him as a “solid guy” with a “good heart”.
In another interview from this year he added:
Tate has also spent time with an array of figures from across the Anglo-American far right, including conspiracy theorists such as Paul Joseph Watson and Jack Posobiec.
Mike Cernovich also visited the Tate brothers in Romania in 2019, describing them as his “friends” in his podcast description.
Tate appears to admire the far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones – recently successfully sued for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting – describing him as “one of the greatest men on the planet”.
Perhaps this is why he regularly espouses wild conspiracy theories of his own, including the New World Order conspiracy. He has also firmly backed Donald Trump, saying:
It is no secret that the internet is awash with ugly and harmful content. However, it is rare when someone like Andrew Tate rises to become one of the most famous people on social media because of their harmful content.
While many are already speaking out against Tate, there is a legion of (primarily male) supporters who consume, venerate and share his dangerous content.
Here in the UK, it is not an exaggeration to say that many young students returning to school at the end of the summer holidays will have seen something produced by Andrew Tate.
The effect that Tate’s brand of vitriolic misogyny can have on the young male audience is deeply concerning. His content is widely celebrated by his fans for having brought back “traditional masculinity”.
However, we also know that misogyny can be a gateway to other extreme and discriminatory views, and there is a serious danger that some people, sucked in by his sexist content, will align with his wider far-right politics.
It is imperative that major tech platforms act now before even more harm is done.
That’s why HOPE not hate is launching a petition calling on tech platforms to remove Andrew Tate’s content.
Read our briefing on violent misogynist Andrew Tate.
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