– I only drink carbonated water, because carbonated water is for rich people. Let me tell you why. You can get regular water from a cursed faucet. The authorities give you that shit. TikTok phenomenon Andrew Tate has an opinion about pretty much everything. – Breakfast breeds arrogance and laziness. I don’t eat until the work is done. And right now, his videos on TikTok have been viewed over 12 billion times. – I’m not a fucking rapist, but I like the idea of being able to do exactly what I want. Banned from Twitter Emory Andrew Tate was born in the USA and grew up in England as the eldest of three siblings. After he turned 11, it was just him, his siblings and his single mother. He has described life as poor. In his 20s he was very successful in kickboxing, where he became world champion four times. In the search for celebrity status, Andrew and his brother Tristan joined Big Brother, but the reality journey was short for the former. A video of Andrew whipping a woman with a belt, while calling her a whore, began to circulate. Both have subsequently claimed that it was a joke, but Andrew was still thrown out of the production and cut from the episodes. Andrew Tate decided to become rich, famous and powerful. He has managed that. Photo: Skjermdump / news Andrew realized early on that being controversial got him up and running. The 36-year-old is now banned from Twitter, but before that he managed to tweet: “If you put yourself in a position where you are raped, you have to take some responsibility” – The whole thing is a big scam The brothers also realized that money gave power, and the next step was to find out how to get rich. They did this by getting their girlfriends, and gradually a total of 75 women, to sit online and tell “sob stories” to rich men. According to Tristan, they received over NOK 200,000 from someone who had given his inheritance to the “women”, while others had ended up in heavy debt. Andrew claimed they burned 600,000 dollars, almost 6 million kroner, on the business every month. – The whole thing is a big fraud, said a proud Tristan Tate to the Sunday Mirror, before adding that they don’t feel guilty. Active in the MAGA community – He is 2022’s big internet phenomenon. So says sociologist, author and journalist Linn Stalsberg. In a comment in Dagsavisen, she describes Andrew Tate as “one of TikTok’s most dangerous men”. It was her teenage boys who tipped her off about the phenomenon. Even she had never heard of him before. – I was shocked at what kind of blind spot I had for him. He is so crazy big with teenagers and young people, and I didn’t know he existed. Andrew Tate has said that he has a weapon in every room. Photo: Skjermdump / Instagram The message in what he says plays on layers with political tendencies in our time, believes Stalsberg. – It is a dark and gloomy political landscape that is about men being the most valuable, women being less valuable. He does not believe in the climate crisis, he does not believe in the pandemic, he casts doubt on democracy by talking about “globalists” and hidden agendas. Because even if he himself does not represent a political party or an organisation, he is far from apolitical. – He stands arm in arm with the Trump sons and the MAGA community and pays tribute to Donald Trump. Much of what he says and does fits into a larger context. Andrew Tate is Googled far more than, for example, Donald Trump. Photo: Google Trends And if people start to agree with him that women have nothing to do in leadership positions, and that men are allowed to be unfaithful to women, but not the opposite, then it is suddenly political. – He can be like a bridge into a darker environment, believes Stalsberg. Andrew Tate as he is often depicted: With a cigar and shirtless. Photo: Screen dump / Instagram – Now the women must be put in their place Andrew Tate looks like himself in most of his videos: Cigar in mouth, sunglasses on, in baris. The message comes hard. He speaks loudly, quickly, aggressively and bombastically. Stalsberg has spent hours getting to know who Andrew Tate is. Nevertheless, she is not sure if he actually means what he says, or if he does it to become a viral celebrity. – You call him dangerous, what do you mean by that? – He knows what he is doing and how the algorithms work. He has a massive presence on TikTok. Then we sit down in the kitchen as adults and have never heard of the guy. Photo: Screenshot from TikTok, 12.08.22 at 15.10. In recent years, several minority groups have gained more rights – women, indigenous peoples, homosexuals, among others. – And then there will be a backlash from groups that have had a sense of right and privilege for many hundreds of years, and he is one of them. Now the women must be put in their place. Advocating for masculinity 23-year-old Emad Nayab likes to call himself “Norway’s Andrew Tate”. – Andrew Tate has a lot to offer. He has a lot of life experience and has experienced a lot in terms of status and the superficial, money and so on. He has very high self-confidence, and dares to speak his mind. Nayab has 10,000 followers on Snapchat and 4,000 on TikTok, and also shares his partly controversial opinions on the platforms. Emad Nayab says he often exaggerates to get the point across. He does not say everything when Tate is serious and when there is humor. – At the same time, there are preferences. If the girl he’s in a relationship with thinks it’s okay for him to sleep with other people, then I don’t see the problem. – Why do we need more people like him? – Because I feel that masculinity is important. It gets a little lost in today’s society. I feel that modern feminism has meant that men are not as masculine anymore. Testosterone levels in men have dropped dramatically in recent years. – But is it because of feminism? – There can be various reasons, but I think feminism has contributed to men having more feminine features. Emad Nayab believes Andrew Tate plays a role in social media. – But when he is with other famous people in videos on YouTube, you can see that he is a nice guy. Photo: Screen dump / Instagram Nayab does not think Tate is a dangerous influencer, and thinks the world benefits from him “telling it like it is”. – I feel that people should be a little less sensitive and not be offended by absolutely everything. Take in what is necessary and ignore the rest. Anine Olsen (21), who is also a TikToker, does not share Nayab’s view. – I think people like him because he paves the way for being an asshole, and he makes being an asshole look stylish. Because he has a Bugatti, expensive cars, lots of ladies, and the young boys who are easy to influence might think that “if I’m like him, maybe I’ll get these things too”. The man above all men Videos by Andrew Tate have spread like wildfire – certain dry grass being TikTok, Instagram and Twitter. Several report that they have involuntarily watched many of his videos. Photo: Screenshot from Twitter, taken 10.08.22 at 10.30 am. Andrew Tate promises gold and green forests for those who enroll in Hustlers University. Over 100,000 “students” will earn money by sharing clips of Tate and recruiting new students. That is why there are thousands of videos of him on TikTok, while the man himself has not posted anything. Media critic Ida Aalen has also noticed “the man above all men”. She has a theory as to why he has taken off. – Things that arouse strong feelings spread better. He helps the audience along the way. All engagement, whether hate comments or support, is good engagement. It will be like pouring petrol on the algorithm fire, explains Aalen. It also helps that he has controversial opinions. – If someone says something that is self-evident and that everyone agrees on, what would it be to talk about? Social media is a very effective way of spreading your message, points out SoMe expert Ståle Lindblad. – Especially on TikTok, this has completely taken off. That is why even extreme people, such as Alex Jones and Andrew Tate, do it to make money. They make millions every single month on people who let themselves be tricked into sharing, or paying for products, opinions or membership on their websites. Suspect of human trafficking and rape In recent years, Andrew Tate has lived in Romania. He himself has said that he does not want to live in Western countries, among other things because of the #MeToo movement, which he believes is inflated. Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan live the good life in Romania. Photo: Screenshot / Instagram In April, his house was searched by Romanian police due to tips that an American woman was being held there against her will, and suspicion of rape. Tate has contested the debts, but is still under investigation. In the meantime, he goes free, drives a Bugatti and smokes cigars.
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TikTok phenomenon Andrew Tate is called the “King of toxic masculinity” – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
