MAGA's ‘King of Toxic Masculinity’ faces police raid in Romania in human trafficking investigation

In one of his YouTube videos, American expatriate Andrew Tate — a professional kickboxer and far-right Donald Trump supporter known as “the King of Toxic Masculinity” — stated that “40%” of the reason he moved to Romania was because Romanian law enforcement are less likely to pursue sexual assault allegations. But on April 10, according to Daily Beast reporter Will Sommer, Tate’s home was raided by Romanian police as part of a human trafficking investigation.

“Video from the raid shows police officers armed with rifles milling among the Tates’ sports cars, with a neon ‘TATE’ logo on a wall in the background,” Sommer explains. “Another video showed Tate and his brother, (Tristan Tate), being shoved into vans by police officers before being driven away from their homes.”

The Romanian publication Gândul, according to Sommer, “reported that the raid was sparked over reports that an American woman was being held captive at the Tate house. Police found both the American and a Romanian woman in the building during the raid, according to the report.”

Andrew Tate was dubbed “the King of Toxic Masculinity” by one of his admirers. The term “toxic masculinity” has a very negative connotation among feminists, but to Tate’s admirers, it’s a badge of honor — and in the video discussing his decision to move to Romania, Tate angrily railed against the #MeToo movement. Romania, as the MAGA kickboxer saw it, wasn’t as #MeToo-friendly as the United States, the U.K. or Germany.

In that video, Tate told viewers, “People say, ‘Why do you live in Romania?,’ and I explain my five reasons. One of them is the #MeToo era…. This #MeToo era bullshit has not protected women. It’s just destroyed the safety of men.”

The Daily Beast discussed Andrew Tate’s case with Romanian police. According to Sommer, “In a statement provided to the Daily Beast, Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism said the raid on the Tates’ house was part of an investigation that began after a woman was reported to be held at the house against her will. As the probe continued, it escalated to include ‘crimes of human trafficking and rape.’”

Sommer reports that “in a statement on the raid to the Daily Beast, a U.S. State Department spokesperson alluded to a reported abduction of an American citizen but declined to comment further.”

That spokesperson told the Beast, “We are aware of reports of a U.S. citizen held against their will in Romania. Due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment.”

Tate, Sommer notes, has often been a guest on far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars show and has “links with the stars of the Trumpian right.”

“In 2019,” Sommer observes, “Tate palled around Washington, D.C. with prominent online Trump activists and conspiracy theorists. He shared a meal with far-right cable news commentator Jack Posobiec and Infowars host Paul Joseph Watkins, and appeared multiple times on Infowars shows. In Trump’s Washington hotel, Tate posed for a picture with Brexit advocate Nigel Farage, and sat in a group in the Trump hotel lobby with the likes of Pizzagate conspiracy theorist Mike Cernovich and future January 6, (2021) protest organizer Ali Alexander.”