Right-wing, misogynist influencer and kickboxer Andrew Tate has been arrested by Romanian police. Human trafficking and rape are suspected. Initially, several media reported that Tate himself had provided the Romanian authorities with the crucial information. With a response video posted on Twitter, in which he mocks climate activist Greta Thunberg. So the police could have known where Tate was. However, there are now doubts about this story.
The video was a reaction to Thunberg: Tate had previously tried to provoke the 19-year-old with a series of tweets. He wrote about his 33 cars and asked Thunberg for an email address so that he could send her a list of the models and the high emissions of the vehicles. “Yes, please enlighten me,” ruled the activist. “Write to me at [email protected]”
This counter got a lot of attention on social media and is now in the top ten most Liked tweets in the history of Twitter. Tate responded with a video of him smoking a cigar and making fun of Thunberg. A controlled global army of chatbots drew attention to her tweet. In the video, Tate has pizza boxes from the Romanian chain “Jerry’s Pizza” in the picture and emphasizes that they hopefully are not recyclable.
On Thursday morning, Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate were arrested by the Romanian police in their villa in the Pipera district. Video recordings of the operation that Romanian online portal Gandul published, show an armed police unit searching the property. Luxury cars, firearms, swords and large amounts of cash are on display.
The reason for the arrest of the American brothers is the suspicion of human trafficking and rape, reports Gandul citing the investigating public prosecutor DIICOT, responsible for organized crime and terrorism. The Tates are said to have operated a video chat studio 500 meters from their home, in which several women were believed to have been held against their will.
So far, authorities have identified six victims who have been sexually exploited by the group and forced to record pornography. The two brothers, together with a former policewoman who is accused of complicity, were taken to the public prosecutor’s office for a long questioning. It is not yet known how the authorities will proceed.
After Tate’s arrest, the American wrote Civil rights attorney Alejandra Caraballo in a Twitter threadwhy the pizza boxes in Tate’s video could have been the key to the brothers’ arrest. With that, Caraballo triggered a wave of reporting that picked up on this version. Also German media reported. The story prompted many sardonic reactions on social media. Thunberg tweeted: “This is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes”. However, it is now questionable whether the boxes were really the decisive clue.
Romanian media also report that the police reacted to tips from social media with the arrest. However, it is not known whether this is Tate’s Thunberg response video. The Bucharest police said that unfortunately no information could be released on ongoing investigations. A spokeswoman for the public prosecutor said at the request of the German Press Agency, that the pizza boxes played a role are just “amusing speculations”.
the platform Gandul According to the Romanian authorities, Tate has been under investigation for nine months. After many foreign media picked up on the pizza box theory, the former journalist and blogger Ben Dreyfuss did a fact check on his site, in which he calls Caraballo’s version “misinformation”. Tate had already posted pictures from Romania on Twitter in the days before, once even one Video of a mountain landscape, about which he only titled “Romania”. So law enforcement could have known the ex-kickboxer was in the country, Dreyfuss argues.
Carabello has meanwhile commented in another Twitter thread on why she is sticking to the pizza box theory. She also does not consider the video to be the decisive piece of evidence for the Romanian police. However, it is the only post that could be used not only for location but also for time identification, as Tate is reacting to the recent altercation with Thunberg.
The fact that Andrew Tate can tweet again at all is due to Elon Musk’s takeover of the network. In November, he had unlocked almost all blocked accounts again. Tate has been banned from Twitter since 2017. He caused a stir during the Me Too movement with tweets in which he blamed women for their rape. This year he was also banned from YouTube, Instagram and Facebook after speaking in a video about using violence against cheating women.
The kickboxer became famous in 2016 for filming an attack on a woman on the reality television show “Big Brother”. Tate was forced to leave the show but has since become one of the most influential misogynist influencers. He also offers paid training courses on his website, in which young men in particular are supposed to learn how to make a lot of money quickly.