Who is Andrew Tate? All you need to know about the controversial internet personality

The internet is abuzz with the news of Andrew Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate’s arrival in the U.S. after Romania lifted their travel ban. The professional kickboxer and controversial influencer was arrested in Romania in 2022 alongside his brother.

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Who is Andrew Tate?

The former kickboxer-turned influencer Andrew Tate is known for making provocative and misogynist statements. According to The Guardian’s piece about Tate’s misogynist rhetoric, on being asked how he would react to a woman accusing him of cheating, Tate said on a video,

“It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up b—h.”

In 2017, when X was known as Twitter, Tate was banned from the social media platform after he wrote a tweet proclaiming women should be held responsible for s*xual assaults against them, according to CNN. Tate’s X ban was lifted sometime in 2022.

Tate is enormously popular, in 2023 he was the third most searched person according to Google Trends. According to Robert Lawson, a sociolinguistics professor, who spoke to Vox about Tate, Tate appeals to a huge audience because he projects

“this idea of the alpha male, the man that’s in control, that always knows what he’s doing, that always gets what he wants…I think some men can see that as a particularly attractive trait, but he’s also big on conspicuous consumption. He lives a very jet-set lifestyle: fast cars, private planes, mansions, expensive holidays away.”

Tate’s online activities are linked to the ‘manosphere,’ a corner of the internet composed of forums, blogs, sites which espouse the ideology of masculinity, which rallies against feminism, according to The Guardian.

Tate also runs the Hustler’s University, which is an alternate educational venture that teaches money-making skills, as per its website. The online course website was breached in a cyberattack in November, 2024, and hackers claiming to protest against the misogyny perpetuated by Tate took responsibility for the breach, according to Forbes.

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The charges against Andrew Tate and his brother

Andrew Tate and his brother were allegedly accused of r*pe, human trafficking, s*x with a minor, money laundering and forming a criminal ring, according to The Guardian. The pair had been put under a travel ban by Romanian authorities who were investigating the charges.

After a suspension of the travel ban, the brothers travelled back to the U.S., and landed in Fort Lauderdale, Florida on February 27.

Tate and his brother also face charges in the United Kingdom, where they stand accused of r*pe and human trafficking. Four British women have also brought a civil suit against Andrew Tate.

Governor Ron DeSantis of Florida responded to the Tate brothers’ arrival in Fort Lauderdale in a press conference on February 27, saying,

“The reality is, no, Florida is not a place where you’re welcome with that type of conduct in the air. And I don’t know how it came to this, we were not involved, we were not notified.”

Attorney General James Uthmeier also responded, saying on X,

“Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women. If any of these alleged crimes trigger Florida jurisdiction, we will hold them accountable.”

The direction of the criminal investigations that the Romanian and the United Kingdom’s authorities take remains to be seen.