After infiltrating the social media feeds of millions of young men across the world, serial misogynist and four-time kickboxing champ Andrew Tate has been held accountable for a host of problematic statements.

Leading up to last weekend, the controversial figure was banned by TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for his deeply divisive opinions, which actively encouraged men to objectify and abuse women, while pushing his millions-strong following to sign up for his ‘Hustler’s University’ program, which through an affiliate link service, aimed to fund and popularize Tate’s online empire. It too has been taken down — with a swift 18% drop in membership reported across the last two weeks by The Guardian.

The so-called university is an online educational program with no institutional accreditation where members pay a monthly fee to receive advice on topics such as cryptocurrency, e-commerce, and stock trading.

Tate’s Statements

The former kickboxer found fame in 2016 when he was booted out of Big Brother after a video surfaced of him appearing to attack a woman.

At the time, Tate claimed that the video had been edited, claiming the footage was ‘a total lie trying to make me look bad’. In brief, the video seems to show Tate attacking a female contestant with a belt, although Tate claimed that the pair were simply playing around, and no physical abuse occurred.

Six years later, Tate continues to uphold this narrative, claiming that his misogynistic comments were taken out of context while reiterating his claim to have donated over $1 million to women’s charities in recent weeks — a point referred to in a recent Instagram post on his now-defunct account.

Tate told LADbible: “It is very unfortunate that old videos of me, where I was playing a comedic character, have been taken out of context and amplified to the point where people believe absolutely false narratives about me. These are simply hate mobs who are uninterested in the facts of the matter trying to personally attack me. They twist facts and produce fancy documents full of half-truths and lies to attack people they don’t like. Somehow I am the villain, when all of my posts were bible verses and charitable donations. Banning me only inspires more internet hate mobs and more division. This will become a weapon of attack for different points of view for the foreseeable future.”

Turning the tables, Tate went on to espouse that Meta was prejudiced against him, having ignored the 10,000+ daily ‘death threats’ he faced on social media — without really addressing why said threats were aimed at him in the first place.

“I am a mixed race man raised by a single mother. I suffered all of the disadvantages of the old world. I am a fantastic role model for all people, both male, and female,” he concluded.

The Damages Done

“He’s basically making money by marketing misogyny,” opines Joshua Roose, a political sociologist working at Deakin University. He went on to illustrate how Tate is simply symptomatic of a much larger movement within the Internet’s ‘manosphere’ — an ecosystem of websites, podcasts, influencers, and more who routinely approach the world from patriarchal viewpoints, often at the detriment of women and minorities.

“There’s always a charlatan out there — there’s always someone who’s prepared to commoditize social media and polarization for their own profit,” continued Roose.

This isn’t particularly surprising or convenient to most independent men, one could argue. Tate’s aesthetic — which usually includes ostentatious displays of wealth and sexual success draws skepticism from most men of working age… at least evidenced by the heavy onslaught of critical messages on his videos and online posts.

Rather, it’s the younger generation at risk here. Young men in single-sex boys’ schools were “particularly vulnerable,” Dr. Roose said. “We know cases of boys accessing him through TikTok and social media and then spreading his message into schoolyards. What lies at the heart of it is fundamental insecurity about the role of men in the world and sense that women are doing better than men.”

The ‘locker room’ ideology at play here is pretty clear — many of Tate’s videos straight-up describe women as ‘men’s property’, and go on to victim-blame rape survivors while encouraging older men to sexually groom and ‘use’ women between the ages of 18-19. A high school teacher recently posted on Reddit about this phenomenon and how young men were celebrating Tate’s messages, much to her disappointment.

“Just this week I had to have 6 convos with families about their sons saying sh*t like ‘women are inferior to men’ ‘women belong in the kitchen.” The teacher continued to explain how students even refused to complete their assignments if it was sourced from a woman. Additionally, three male students apparently refused to read an article from a female author because “women should only be housewives.”

The sentiment was echoed on Twitter as well:

A few users also noted how YouTube, which has routinely slacked off on effectively deplatforming problematic content, has yet to take action:

Hopefully, Tate’s swift boot from social media won’t spawn a ‘martyr’ culture around him, but Tate himself seems primed to return stronger than ever. Looking forward to returning to Instagram, Tate hopes to ‘prove all of the negative narratives false and show the world tolerance’.

Lead Image: @cobratate/Instagram