WHO IS ANDREW TATE

Emory Andrew Tate III (born December 1, 1986) is a British and American social media personality, businessman, and former professional kickboxer.

Tate began practicing kickboxing in 2005 and gained his first championship in 2009. He attracted wider attention in 2016, when he appeared on the British reality show Big Brother and was removed after his comments on social media attracted controversy. He began offering paid courses and memberships through his website and rose to fame as an internet celebrity, promoting an "ultra-masculine, ultra-luxurious lifestyle". Tate's misogynistic commentary has resulted in his suspension from several social media platforms.[4][5][6][7]

On December 29, 2022, Andrew and his brother Tristan were arrested in Romania along with two women; all four are suspected of human trafficking and forming an organized crime group. Romanian police allege that the group coerced victims into creating paid pornography for social media.[8] On March 31, all four were moved to house arrest while the investigation continues. Prosecutors have said that they have until late June to send the case to triaL

Tate started practicing boxing and other martial arts in 2005, and worked in the TV advertising industry to support himself. In November 2008, he was ranked the seventh-best light heavyweight kickboxer in Britain by the International Sport Kickboxing Association (ISKA).[19] In 2009, he gained his first championship when he won the British ISKA Full Contact Cruiserweight Championship in Derby, and was ranked number one in his division in Europe.[20][21] Tate's kickboxing nickname was "King Cobra".[22]

In 2011, Tate won his first ISKA world title in a rematch against Jean-Luc Benoit via knockout, having previously lost to Benoit by decision.[23] In 2012, Tate lost the Enfusion championship tournament to Franci Grajš.[1] Before his loss, he was ranked second-best light-heavyweight kickboxer in the world.[24] In 2013, Tate won his second ISKA world title in a 12-round match against Vincent Petitjean, making him world champion in two weight divisions.[25]

Big Brother

Tate came to public attention in 2016 when he appeared on the British reality show Big Brother, during its seventeenth series.[26] While appearing on the show, he came under scrutiny for having made homophobic and racist comments on Twitter.[27] He was removed from the show after six days, with producers citing a video apparently showing him hitting a woman with a belt.[28] Tate and the woman said that they were friends and that the actions in the video were consensual.[29][28][30] Vice later reported that the removal was caused by an ongoing police investigation, closed in 2019 with no charges filed.[31]

Bans

Three of Tate's Twitter accounts have been suspended at different times. In 2021, an account that he created to evade his previous ban was verified by Twitter, contrary to their policies. The account was subsequently permanently banned, and Twitter said the verification occurred in error.[28] It was unbanned in November 2022.[54] In August 2022, following an online campaign to deplatform him, Tate was permanently banned from Facebook and Instagram, losing 4.7 million followers from the latter.[58] Parent company Meta claimed he had violated their policy on "dangerous organizations and individuals".[59] TikTok, where videos featuring Tate's name as a hashtag have been viewed over 13 billion times, also removed his account after determining that it violated their policies on "content that attacks, threatens, incites violence against, or otherwise dehumanizes an individual or a group".[45] Shortly thereafter, YouTube also suspended his channel, citing multiple violations, including hate speech and COVID-19 misinformation, and he later deleted his own Twitch channel.[60][61]

Tate responded to the bans by saying that, while most of his comments were taken out of context, he took responsibility for how they were received.[4] Media personality Jake Paul denounced Tate's sexism, but criticized the bans as censorship.[32] Tate's content continued to circulate on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok after the bans via fan accounts.[62][63] Following the bans, Tate moved to alt-tech platforms Gettr and Rumble, making the latter briefly become the most downloaded app on the App Store.[64][65]