Andrew Tate's 5 biggest controversies: From 'Big Brother' eviction to shocking rape comments
Controversial social media influencer and former world kickboxing champion Andrew Tate is currently causing a stir all over the internet. He came into the spotlight after 36-year-old Tate asked climate activist Greta Thunberg to comment on the carbon emissions of his "33 cars" on Wednesday, December 28. However, the 19-year-old's response proved to be an epic burn for Tate, as he was heavily trolled and tagged by many as "THUNburn!" On Thursday, December 29, Tate was arrested along with his brother Tristan Tate for being investigated for human trafficking and kidnapping two girls in Romania.
The DailyMail reports that in April, the brothers allegedly held two women - one with US citizenship and one Romanian - against their will in their villa, where they were subjected to "physical violence and mental coercion' and "sexually exploited by group members by forcing them to perform pornographic demonstrations for the purpose of producing and disseminating through social media platforms." However, this is not the first time Tate has been surrounded by controversy.
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Small d**k energy': Greta Thunberg shuts down Andrew Tate after he brags about his 33 supercars
1) Kicked out of 'Big Brother': Tate gained his greatest notoriety when he was ejected from the 17th season of Big Brother in 2016 after a video was released in which he can be seen beating a woman with a belt. In a statement on his Facebook page, he said, as quoted by The Tab, "They cut out all the sound cause she's laughing in the video. And they cut off the end of the video where she gets the belt and hits me back while we're both laughing. What bullsh**t. It was 2012 and we were having a laugh."
2) Comments on rape in Romania: In a now-deleted video on Tate's YouTube channel, he said it was easier to get away with rape charges in the Eastern European country, claiming, "40 percent of the reason I moved to Romania." He said, as quoted by Newsweek, "I'm not a f**king rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want. I like being free. If you're a man living in England or Germany or America or any of the western world, right now you've decided to live in a country where any woman... at any point in the future can destroy your life."
3) Won't let his girlfriend go to the club without him: Tate said in a live stream that he would not allow his partner to go to a club without him for fear she would find another partner. He said, according to The Tab, "I could rationalize the argument if most of the girls I dated had the IQ of somebody who cannot move, think or do anything and is stuck on the side of the curb [...] but it doesn't make sense in the real world. You don't park your f*****g girl on the curb of the club."
4) On having multiple partners: His comments on having multiple partners but claiming that a woman should not have multiple partners also attracted controversy, further building on his other misogynistic comments. He said, "Read the Bible, every single man had multiple wives, not a single woman had multiple husbands. It’s against the will of God — it’s disgusting.”
5) Denying that depression is a mental illness: During a Twitter rant in the year 2017, reports Wegotthiscovered, he said depression and other mental health issues were “not real." He said, "So people defend depression. They get angry when I say this. Because they need this bulls*** to justify their own failures. By admitting I’m right, they need to work hard to make themselves happy. To avoid the work – argue with me and pretend depression is a thing.”