Andrew Tate made his name as a world champion kickboxer; now, after achieving viral fame, some of his opinions have come under scrutiny. Photo courtesy of NPR.
“I became the most Googled man on the planet, and to a degree I’m the victim of my own success,” stated Andrew Tate during a new episode of his podcast ‘TateSpeech.’ Over the course of the 21st century, many celebrities have gained mass notoriety for their outlandish comments and outgoing personalities, including, among others, the Paul brothers, Gary Vaynerchuk and Charli D’Amelio and more. Yet no influencer in the last 6 months has received as much attention as one in particular: Andrew Tate, who has achieved fame by catering to an increasingly young audience on social media platforms such as Youtube, TikTok and Instagram. Standing as a supposed embodiment of the ‘alpha male’ and built upon ideals of misogyny, homophobia, racism and general abuse, ‘Top G’ is leading the charge for a new wave of hypermasculinity. With an ever-so-growing influence flooding young men’s TikTok feeds at an alarming rate, Tate is changing people’s perspectives for the worse, putting future generations of men in peril of succumbing to his backwards ideas.
Born Emory Andrew Tate in 1986 as the son of African-American chess grandmaster Emory Tate, the 35-year-old Internet celebrity has spent most his life focused on polishing his image into a prominent marketing business. As a young adult, Tate competed in kickboxing tournaments, quickly excelling at the sport. By 2014, Tate had clinched the title of kickboxing world champion in two different weight classes, putting him at the top of the hierarchy in international combat sports. Following his professional career, Tate hung up his gloves and ventured into the realm of reality television in 2016, joining British television series Big Brother in its 17th season. Yet, his appearance on the show was short-lived, as controversy surrounding him beating a woman with a belt resurfaced; this eventually lead to his ejection from the show six days after the opening episode, as reported by the BBC.
In parallel to his misogynistic actions, Tate established a definite presence on social media thanks to his provocative statements as global attention as his speeches intensified. For instance, in 2017, he stated that women deserve to “bear responsibility” for being victims of sexual assault, which promptly sparked outrage on Twitter over his beliefs, as reported by the
Washington Post
. The next day, Twitter banned his account due to a “violation of the company’s policies on dangerous organizations and individuals,” according to an official statement. Between 2018–2019, Tate proceeded to make multiple guest appearances on ‘Infowars,’ led by far-right radio host Alex Jones, along with building an expansive portfolio of connections among right-wing celebrities, as brought to light by
The Guardian
. Notable conspiracy theorists Paul Joseph Watson, Jack Posobiec and Mike Cernovic are among the many personalities with whom Tate has associated himself, spewing hateful and blatantly insubstantial ideologies across their respective social media platforms.
“Andrew Tate’s presence on the social media feeds of teenage boys is antithetical and counterproductive to social progress and the third wave of feminism,” remarked Meredith Brubaker ’26.
While many would argue Tate has done enough to damage his reputation in the eyes of the world, his appeal to corrupt young men worldwide fueled the start of a new project: Hustlers University. Framed as an online platform dedicated to teaching men ‘e-commerce, freelancing, cryptocurrency, investing, and business, as traditional schooling becomes less and less important,’ Hustlers University is in reality a massive pyramid scheme. Indeed, by paying its members a fixed sum for bombarding social media sites with ‘Tate-related content,’ usually videos to garner significant attention, NBC News asserted that Andrew Tate and his army of followers manipulated Tiktok and Youtube algorithms to their advantage. Videos showing Tate giving his followers advice have become the norm on mainstream social media websites; one describes how to dominate women in the bedroom via the “slap, slap, grab, choke technique,” and another features Tate claiming that 18-year-old girls are his target dating age due to their innocence and the ease in “leaving an imprint on them.” In a world where surfing on Tiktok and Instagram is considered a conventional pastime for the majority of teenagers, openly hateful content can negatively skew perspectives of young adults at an early age, leading to a new generation of men glorifying sexual assault, human trafficking and other forms of abuse.
“I feel like Andrew Tate’s rhetoric is going to have profound effects on impressionable minds of teenage boys on social media, and I’ve unfortunately already witnessed his impact on my fellow peers,” commented Imani Mitchell ’26.
Luckily, Tate’s infamy is catching up to him, with Youtube, Facebook, Tiktok and Instagram all taking action to deplatform the influencer in August, 2022. Racking up over 4.7 million followers on Instagram, 750,000 subscribers on his Youtube channel and countless other fanbases pre-ban, society is slowly pushing back against the new face of toxic masculinity. Known for exhibiting an “extravagant lifestyle, dating life and expensive sports cars,” as stated by
The Guardian
reporter Shanti Das, Romania’s Playboy alpha male is feeling the heat from intense societal backlash. Protecting unsuspecting young men from the outdated mentality Andrew Tate preaches is the first step in leading future generations to healthy interpersonal outlooks for years to come.