Deborah Frances-White: Andrew Tate’s too toxic to touch now. But look at the damage he’s done

Andrew Tate – self-proclaimed misogynistic pornographer and alleged human trafficker, rapist and owner of hideous child sexual abuse material – was arrested this month in the US, along with his brother and sidekick Tristan. You probably saw the memes about Andrew Tate’s risible outfit; I’m the kind of person who would never stoop so low as to take a shot at someone’s personal style, but I feel that in his case I should make an exception. 

The brothers have both appeared in a federal court in Miami so their extradition proceedings to the UK can begin. The Crown Prosecution Service, at the behest of the Bedfordshire police (giving the whole thing a provincial Midsomer Murders feel), has brought 59 serious charges against them.

Tate’s tough-guy persona is slipping; he has had a hysterical social-media tantrum about his prison conditions. It does make you wonder why men are always so emotional. Expect more entitled fury, because the magistrate has said he and his brother will definitely be staying behind bars till 13 August at least. 

The Tates were facing similar charges, minus the child abuse material but including the human trafficking, in Romania at the end of 2022. In December 2025, the New York Times reported Andrew Tate’s leaked texts suggested that President Trump had personally helped him and his brother get out of the country earlier in the year. He reportedly told an unknown recipient: “I had word from The Trump admin that theyre [sic] on top of things.” and “Ive been told ill [sic] be free soon but Trump needs to see me in Miami.” 

Certainly US special envoy Richard Grenell explicitly raised the Tate brothers' case during a meeting with Romania’s foreign minister, Emil Hurezeanu in February. Hurezeanu publicly denied that this constituted "pressure," but the travel ban was lifted about a week later.

Joseph McBride, a lawyer representing the Tates in a defamation case they have filed against several of their accusers, said in an official statement: "They feel secure in America for several reasons, the primary one being that Donald Trump is the president."

But it’s clear now that neither Trump nor any of the Tates’ other powerful former supporters or defenders are coming to rescue him and his brother. 

The executive branch has the power to block the UK’s extradition. During a recent White House press briefing, a reporter asked Karoline Leavitt if the president or the administration have any plans to intervene in the process. “No,” Leavitt answered in her signature style – as if she were furious to have woken up and found herself still Trump’s press secretary. 

The brothers’ lawyer, McBride, has been quick to claim that this is not a sign of rats leaving a sinking ship, saying: “There’s no reason at this point for Trump to parachute in from Air Force One to the courtroom, because we think we’ll win in court.”  Far from any James Bond stunts, it doesn’t seem like the president is even going to send them a parachute in the mail. 

Nigel Farage famously said on a podcast in 2024 that Andrew Tate was a “very important voice” for men. He added that Tate’s presence has meant we can now say ‘Hang on, what’s wrong with being a bloke? What’s wrong with male culture?’” These charges might have answered that second question for Farage, who is now eerily silent and not answering questions about a chummy photo of him with Tate circulating on socials. 

What’s changed for all these high-profile players? Well, since the Tate brothers were welcomed back into the US from Romania, the Epstein files have been released, along with the can of worms that slithered out with them. The current US administration certainly doesn’t need any up-to-date associations with alleged sex traffickers and child sex abuse materials, and neither does anyone vying for leadership here.  

But it’s more than that. In truth, the Tates have outlived their usefulness. And if you’re asking “what have the Tates ever done for anyone?” then let me enlighten you. In January this year, Andrew Tate talked to Jack Neel, who looks like a ginger Ferris Bueller having another day off. Jack, who was 24 at the time of the interview, claims he has the fastest growing “Matrix-resistant” podcast in the world. 

Neel asked Tate if he knew how much the landscape had changed because of Tate’s work. Tate replied: “Oh, it’s changed. When I first started speaking up I would make national news for saying something as mundane as ‘women can’t drive’ and now everyone on the internet is screaming ‘women shouldn’t even vote’, so I’ve super-heavily shifted the Overton window. And now we can have conversations about gender, about inter-sex dynamics which are super-important because that affects politics as a whole. We can have conversations about geopolitics that we couldn’t previously have.” 

It’s very difficult for me to type these words, but … Andrew Tate is right. Every podcast bro who says anything short of Tate classics such as “women are property", "if you put yourself in a position of being raped, you must bear some responsibility” and “99% of the world's problems would vanish if women had their sexual ‘body count’ tattooed or stamped on their foreheads” is now seen as centrist and reasonable. The kind of misogyny we hear touted on “Welcome to Nice Guys Just Asking Questions About Females” podcasts is a direct result of what the Tates normalised. 

Andrew Tate admits here that his shock-jock-cock antics were intended to change the conversation and to allow new lows in the way women and other marginalised groups are seen and treated. He and his brother were trying to embolden contempt for us. 

Do not forgive them, Father, because they knew exactly what they were doing. And now we live here, in a place where, as Tate points out, “everyone on the internet is screaming ‘women shouldn’t even vote’” – a consistent and growing campaign of the far right in the US. 

What must be dawning on the Tate brothers now is that they are toxic waste and that their powerful friends are playing a game of “you touched them last”. If you’re selling dehumanisation, those who are buying will feel no empathy for you when your time comes. Let this be a lesson to those who throw others under the bus in exchange for proximity to power. That’s the thing about buses: there’ll be another one along in a minute. 

Tate is clearly surprised that the establishment has forsaken him. His plaintive social media posts from prison are pathetic: “I am being held in SHU, the highest level of security that exists. No commissary. No visits. No contact with the outside world. My neighbour is a cannibal who screams throughout the night.” In another post he claims he is not allowed to make a phone call. If all this is true, how is he posting on social media? It is to be hoped this will give him time to think about how women feel when they are kidnapped and trafficked, and build some empathy. But it is unlikely, as he continually demonstrates that he does not think women are people. He can only feel pity for himself. I do not believe in prison in its current form. But I’ll make an exception. 

The Tates were not the first alleged traffickers and abusers who were embraced by the establishment and sadly they won’t be the last. But they were the first ones to advertise who they were and livestream their ugly views. Their legacy is the loss of shame for their most shameful acts.

Will society ever recover from their contempt for us?

Deborah Frances-White hosts The Guilty Feminist podcast which has been longlisted for three British Podcast Awards. Her latest book ‘Six Conversations We’re Scared to Have’ is published in paperback by Virago. Buy at a discounted price in the Nerve’s bookshop here.