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Self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate has gone from being a divisive social media influencer to an accused human-trafficking rapist behind bars in Romania.
But who exactly is the internet provocateur?
For many, the American-British former kickboxer likely only came onto their radar this week when — ahead of his dramatic arrest Thursday — he went viral for being humiliated by Greta Thunberg.
The cigar-puffing playboy — who once claimed to be the world’s first trillionaire — had tried to taunt the 19-year-old eco-warrior by bragging about the “enormous emissions” of his fleet of 33 cars.
When he asked her for an email address to send a full list, she wittily clapped back: “yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalld–kenergy@getalife.com.”
But the now-viral spat was far from Tate’s first brush with notoriety online. The self-styled self-help guru has grabbed attention for his troubling views and behavior for years.
Tate’s rise to fame started in 2016 when he appeared on the UK reality TV show “Big Brother.”
Just seven days in, he was booted from the show after the Sun shared a video of him whipping and beating a girlfriend for looking at other men.
A second video emerged of him telling a woman to count the bruises he caused on her.
Both Tate and the women insisted it had been consensual. But such violence would follow Tate long before his arrest this week.
In a since-deleted video, he openly discussed hitting a woman and breaking her jaw during a bar fight — saying he “got away with it in the end,” NBC said.
In another, he called a woman who accused him of violence “a dumb ho.”
In one clip, he also advised his followers to “slap, slap, grab, choke” women in the bedroom.
And if a woman accused him of cheating, “It’s bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck,” he says in one video, acting it out with a large weapon.
His views led to numerous online bans, starting in 2017 when — at the height of the Harvey Weinstein allegations — he was suspended by Twitter for saying that women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted or raped.
He also said that if a man in a relationship has sex with someone else, it’s “not cheating, it’s exercise” — while if the woman “even talks to a dude, it’s cheating.
