Men’s Rights Influencers Andrew and Tristan Tate Detained in Romania on Suspicion of Human Trafficking
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Men’s rights internet personalities and brothers Andrew and Tristan Tate were detained on Thursday by Romanian prosecutors on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group, according to Reuters.
The brothers, who run an adult entertainment camera service, will be detained for 24 hours alongside two Romanian suspects, prosecutors from the anti-organized crime unit said in a statement after raiding their properties in Bucharest, Reuters reports.
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“The four suspects … appear to have created an organised crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost,” prosecutors stated.
When reached for comment by Rolling Stone, a spokesperson for the Tate brothers said, “We cannot provide any details at the moment regarding alleged reports that they have been detained; however, Andrew and Tristan Tate have the utmost respect for the Romanian authorities and will always assist and help in any way they can.”
The Tates — Andrew especially — have grown in popularity online for espousing violent and often misogynistic views about women, sexuality, and rape culture. Andrew had a small stint as a professional kickboxer before he was invited to star on the 2016 U.K. version of Big Brother. He was eventually kicked off. While Andrew remains banned from most popular social media sites like Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok, his Twitter account was recently reinstated when the platform was taken over by Elon Musk. The brothers present themselves as teachers who want to open people’s eyes to the lies of the government, women, and left wing media, and have reportedly made millions through online courses on thought and cryptocurrency. Following several of his bans in August, Andrew told Rolling Stone in a statement that many of his controversial comments were made in jest and were part of a “character” he was portraying online.
“The media is spinning a false image of me, on repeat, and instagram bowing to pressure is a massive shame,” Tate said. “Somehow I am the villain, when all of my posts were bible verses and charitable donations.” While Tate says he’s just playing a character, there are thousands of hours of content behind his beliefs. And fake or not, he has built a financial empire on some pretty harmful takes, a clear contradiction from the “bible verses and charitable donations” he seems to think his content is all about.
The villa was first raided in April 2022, after Romanian police received a report of a woman being held against her will at the home, according to the Daily Beast. At the time no arrests were made, but authorities said the investigation was ongoing; police reported finding one American woman and one Romanian woman in the villa. At the time, a spokesperson for the U.S State Department said they were “aware of reports of a U.S. citizen held against their will in Romania, ”but had no further comment.” The brothers were not arrested during this incident.
This isn’t Andrew’s first run-in with authorities. Before he moved to Romania, several other women accused him of abuse, and he implied that he was moving to Romania for its lax approach to law enforcement.
“I’m not a rapist, but I like the idea of just being able to do what I want,” he said in YouTube video that was removed when he was banned from the site. “I like being free.”
The news also comes a day after Tate made headlines for a public feud with multiple Nobel Peace Prize nominee and climate activist Greta Thunberg. Andrew tweeted a list of his luxury cars before asking Thunberg to “please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.” The climate activist responded, “Yes, please do enlighten me. Email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.” Tate didn’t seem to take the insult well, first replying “How dare you?” before sending the activist a video response 10 hours later, where he made several jokes that didn’t land and then accused the 19-year-old of being a slave to the “matrix.”
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