On December 29, 2022, famous kickboxer Andrew Tate was arrested in Romania for charges of human trafficking and rape, along with his brother, Tristan Tate. This has sparked a massive amount of controversy, as the celebrity’s large number of social media followers make their opinions heard.
Who is Andrew Tate?
Andrew Tate is a British-American kickboxer. He started in 2007 and has won many international titles since then before retiring to Romania. However, what truly brought many critics to believe that he is a part of this case is his long history of misogyny. He has constantly supported the “manosphere,” a highly misogynistic and hateful men’s rights movement, and he has spoken in support of violence towards women. He was also removed from the 17th season of the reality show “Big Brother” after a video of him hitting a woman with a belt popped up, which Tate and the woman later stated was consensual.
His particularly famous comments include blaming women who are victims of rape for their own assault, supporting violent punishments towards women who are not submissive, and limiting women to performing household chores and birthing children as their “natural role in life,” He’s also nicknamed “the king of toxic masculinity” and “the scariest man on the internet.” He has even stated on a podcast interview that he is “absolutely sexist” and “absolutely a misogynist.”
The Charges
The Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) stated that they arrested two Romanians and two Englishmen in relation to a human trafficking case. It was later confirmed that two of the suspects were Andrew Tate and his brother. Romanian authorities are investigating whether these four people played a role in the creation of an expansive human trafficking ring. Women who were victims of this ring were physically and sexually assaulted and forced to make explicit material.
The Controversy
Though he has many critics, Tate also has a rather wide fan base of young men. In fact, many have complained that Tate’s content is starting to affect these young boys and turning them into misogynists as well. While some follow him for fitness advice, many have also created videos with clips of his hateful and misogynistic comments, praising his ideals. Many of Tate’s supporters have taken to social media to advocate for the release of Tate, claiming that he must be innocent.
Greta Thunberg’s Involvement
Greta Thunberg is a 19-year old Swedish environmental activist who was rumored to have assisted in Tate’s arrest. On December 27th, Tate had baited Thunberg in a tweet describing the number of cars he has and the large carbon emissions they create. He asked for her email so he could send a list of each of his cars and their “enormous emissions”, to which Thunberg sent an explicit reply, ending her email address with “@getalife.com”. Tate replied with a video of him with a pizza box from a Romanian pizza chain, and following his arrest, Thunberg teased him again, leading people to believe that she helped Romanian authorities. However, this has not been confirmed and is merely speculation.
So what now?
After Andrew Tate was arrested, he and the other three suspects were to stay in jail for 30 days. However, his lawyer, Eugen Vidineac, has applied for an appeal, and now it is up to an appeal judge to make the final decision. However, what we see is not just a human trafficking issue, but a clash between old misogynistic ideals and feminism.
Such controversies shed light on the discriminatory ideals within our advanced world, as we see our society suffer as a whole from the diffusion of hatred.
