Romania extends police detention of misogynist influencer Andrew Tate
Bucharest, Jan 20 (EFE).- Controversial online influencer and self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate will remain in custody in Romania for a further 30 days after a court extended his and his brother Tristan’s police detention on Friday.
The brothers have been held since December 29, when they were arrested on suspicion of rape, human trafficking and forming an organized crime group. Two Romanian women were also arrested.
Tate, a former world champion kickboxer, and his brother have been accused of deceiving or coercing women into performing paid pornography online. Both deny the allegations.
Their two suspected accomplices have also had their detention extended.
The suspects were initially detained for 30 days a day after their arrest, and had an appeal against their detention denied on January 10.
Having made brief appearances on British reality TV, Tate’s celebrity status rocketed in recent years amid a burgeoning following on social media, in particular TikTok, where he garnered attention for his openly misogynistic views.
His so-called Hustler’s University program, a monthly subscription platform that claims to offer over 100,000 students skills on cryptocurrency and business ventures, also drew attention amid claims from critics that he was running a pyramid scheme.
From 2021, Tate was removed from a string of social media sites for violating their policies.
His profile was reinstated to Twitter following Elon Musk’s takeover of the company.
One day before his arrest, Tate interacted with Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg, whose dismissive reply went on to be one of the most liked tweets of all time.
Formerly a member of the Romanian Orthodox Church, Tate said a few months ago that he converted to Islam, and arrived in court for his appeal hearing this month holding a copy of the Quran. EFE
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