Andrew Tate is a former professional kickboxer, a businessman, and most notably, a controversial social media personality. Tate is a social media enigma with a substantial following consisting of impressionable young boys and men. He’s known for smoking cigars, driving fast cars, living in mansions with models, and his opinions about women. Today, Andrew Tate lives at the center of multiple scandals, including ongoing criminal charges and prosecution in Romania.
Born Emory Andrew Tate III to a chess master dad and mother who worked as a catering assistant, Tate spent his early years in the US. Following the divorce of his parents, he relocated to Luton, England with his mother and brother. He has also gone by “King Cobra” and the self-assigned nickname “Top G." Above all, he’s received immense backlash for his racist, misogynistic, and homophobic comments.
Sports Career
Tate picked up boxing and Martial Arts in 2005 under the nickname "King Cobra”. By 2008, the International Sport Kickboxing Association ranked him 7th among light-heavyweight kickboxers in Britain. He rose to number one in Europe after winning the title of British ISKA Full Contact Cruiserweight Championship. Andrew Tate’s first ISKA world title came in 2011 and his second ISKA world title came two years later, in 2013. Throughout his admittedly impressive kickboxing career, he fought 85 bouts, winning 76 and losing 9 times.
Social Media Notoriety
After appearing on the British reality TV show Big Brother for five days, Andrew shot to social media fame and notoriety. The show’s producers took him off after a video emerged showing him slapping and beating a woman with a belt. Hertfordshire UK Police also informed the producers that they were investigating criminal complaints against Andrew Tate, further influencing their decision to evict him due to the potential charges.
Andrew Tate is most known for his contentious remarks about women’s issues. He often takes to social media to insult women under the guise of preserving the patriarchy. Several notable internet personalities and domestic abuse and women's rights organizations have described these statements as “violently misogynistic.” Tate has been accused of driving the radicalization of young teens and men, encouraging them to harm women.
Tate ran an online webcam business, claiming to have employed as many as 75 women across four different locations. Many of these women have since come out to accuse him of forcing them into sex work. He also ran Hustlers University, a self-acclaimed university offering courses on wealth creation and male-female relationships. Membership cost $49.99 monthly, and participants were reportedly schooled in non-traditional ways to earn money, such as cryptocurrency and copywriting. This, alongside his flamboyant lifestyle and patriarchal mindset, earned him an audience of young men. His popularity led to many looking to model their lives after his “Top G” persona.
Andrew Tate’s Legal Issues
Andrew Tate’s social media notoriety also extends to his real life, being the subject of numerous criminal investigations and charges. In August 2022, Andrew Tate was suspended from several social media sites, including Youtube, Facebook, Instagram, and Tiktok. Speaking to NPR, Tiktok reported that Tate’s account had been banned for posting misogynistic content, which is “not tolerated on Tiktok." Twitter also permanently suspended Andrew Tate’s account in 2017 for saying that women should “bear some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted. His Twitter account was however reinstated following Elon Musk’s acquisition of the social media site.
In December 2022, Andrew Tate was up to more Twitter mischief. He turned his attention to then-19-year-old Swedish anti-fossil fuel activist Greta Thunberg. Tate tagged her in a tweet that showed him fuelling his gold Bugatti. He also offered to send her a complete list of his car “collection and their respective enormous emissions.” This drew a reply from Greta and a slew of back-and-forths from internet users on both sides of the climate change debate.
On December 29, 2022, Andrew was arrested in Bucharest. His brother Tristan, and two other Romanian citizens were also arrested by Romanian authorities. The charges alleged include human trafficking, rape, and setting up a criminal gang. Andrew and Tristan Tate were in police custody until March 2023 before being put on house arrest in Romania. Andrew has been officially charged with rape, human trafficking, and setting up an organized crime group to exploit women sexually. The Sun reported that Andrew and his brother will remain in house arrest for the month of July.