In U.S., Tate Brothers Are Met With a Mixed Reception

New York Times

01-03-2025

Andrew Tate rose to fame on a message of forceful masculinity that positioned men as rightful dominators over women. From his base in Romania, he promised to help guide men through 'the Matrix,' his conspiratorial term for a world that he says unfairly demonizes men, and called the criminal accusations against him evidence of persecution.
Now, the sudden arrival of Mr. Tate and his brother Tristan Tate in Florida has alarmed women's rights groups and women who say they have been victimized by the brothers.
Questions over whether U.S. officials intervened to help the Tates have only added to concerns that their ideology will thrive, even as they face separate investigations in Romania and Britain.
Here is what to know about the response to their arrival in the country.
Accusers called the move a 'slap in the face.'
'It felt like their power knows no bounds,' said Dani Pinter, a lawyer representing an American woman who has accused the Tate brothers of luring her to Romania to exploit her.
The client, who has sued the brothers in a Florida court, was 'terrified and shocked' that they had come to the state, said Ms. Pinter, a senior vice president at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.
After their arrival, Ms. Pinter called it 'a slap in the face to all the victims of the Tate brothers, especially the U.S. victim who is not being protected by her country.'
The brothers had been held in Romania since 2022, first over accusations that they romanced women with the intention of forming a criminal group to exploit them for financial gain, and then over sex crime charges from the British authorities.
They have denied any wrongdoing and sued one of Ms. Pinter's client for defamation. 'We've yet to be convicted of any crime in our lives, ever,' Mr. Andrew Tate said after landing in Florida on Thursday.
Some want them extradited to Britain.
Four British women who sued Andrew Tate in Britain over claims that he had raped and abused them urged the British government on Friday to immediately request the brothers' extradition from the United States. The British authorities have sought their arrest over separate criminal accusations of rape and human trafficking.
If the government does not request the extradition, 'it won't just be us it will be failing, but all British victims of alleged sexual violence,' the women said in a statement. A spokeswoman for the British Home Office, which oversees policing and crime policy, declined to say whether any extradition request had been made or received.
'I am really concerned that we are going to see their following grow and more of their followers feel like they're going to be invincible,' said Christian F. Nunes, the president of the National Organization for Women. Officials and others need to respond by being 'vocal defenders' of women and girls, she said.
Conservatives were divided about their U.S. arrival.
The brothers, who have zealously supported President Trump, have previously found support from his associates, including the president's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr. The Tampa Bay Young Republicans called the brothers 'free speech absolutionists' and welcomed them to the state.
But Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, said the Tates were not welcome in Florida, and the state's attorney general, James Uthmeier, also a Republican, said that his office would conduct a 'preliminary inquiry' into the brothers. 'Florida has zero tolerance for human trafficking and violence against women,' Mr. Uthmeier said on Thursday.
A lawyer for the influencers said on Thursday that he had lobbied American lawmakers on the brothers' behalf, but declined to comment on whether that effort had been successful. Romanian officials have denied any intervention from U.S. officials in the case.
Still, the ties to the administration left women's rights groups worried that the brothers and their views would be bolstered in an environment where the administration has targeted diversity, equity and inclusion programs and protections against gender discrimination.
The Tate brothers, much like Mr. Trump, have tapped into the genuine suffering that men and boys experience as they struggle with loneliness, suicide, drugs and the feeling that their identities as men have been demonized, said Cynthia Miller-Idriss, the founding director of the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab at American University in Washington.
The brothers have sold access to an online community and courses that promised to teach men how to use women to build wealth.
They offer the narrative, Dr. Miller-Idriss said, that 'you can be back on top — all you have to do is dominate women.'
'To some extent, a lot of boys and men feel like he's saying the things nobody else will say,' she said, 'and the MAGA campaign and the Trump campaign has done the same thing.'
They still face investigations.
What happens now that the brothers are in the United States remains unclear. Joseph McBride, a lawyer for the brothers, did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.
Romanian prosecutors did not name the brothers, but said that two British American citizens who had been allowed to leave Romania would still need to appear before a court there when summoned. Although an indictment against them in Romania was withdrawn, investigations over sex trafficking accusations are still active.
Without an active indictment, the lifting of a travel ban against the Tate brothers was legal, said Silvia Tabusca, a law lecturer at the Romanian-American University in Bucharest.
'If they are not coming back, they will face an international warrant and international action,' she said.
But it is possible, she said, that the United States could decide to protect them by arguing that Romania's judicial system is not fair.
Vice President JD Vance criticized Romania's democracy in a speech last month in Germany after Romania annulled its presidential election results after finding signs of Russian interference.
Ms. Tabusca nonetheless said that because the potential charges the brothers face carry long prison sentences, the investigation in Romania is likely to continue even if they are absent. 'They are not escaping these charges,' she said.
It remains to be seen, she said, whether the brothers will return to Romania for a court hearing scheduled for later this month.