Celebrities
Liam O'Dell
Jan 10, 2023
AP
As Andrew Tate remains in custody in Romania on human trafficking and rape charges – which both him and his brother Tristan, also jailed, deny – fans of the self-proclaimed “misogynist” are still gushing over the online influencer and now fantasising about his escape from his prison cell.
Over on r/Cobra_Tate - which has more than 2,300 members though, tragically, only 23 online users at the time of writing – supporters of the former professional kickboxer are theorising and discussing his current detention.
One Redditor defended Tate by suggesting earlier this month that his “message” was “so dangerous for The Matrix” – yes, the one from the actual fictional film franchise – that it was “so essential to arrest them”.
Yes, really.
Another bizarre post on the forum, with a grand total of just 23 upvotes since it was posted last week, is a cartoon video depicting Tate inside a prison cell – clearly in reference to his current predicament.
A series of edited clips show the online personality first talk about ‘waking up in the morning’ when “the alarm goes off”, before laughing hysterically and punching against a grey cartoon wall with metal bars on it.
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There’s then a giant orange ball of flames overlaid on top of the video, before showing a clip of Tate walking out of the cartoon prison in a white suit and sunglasses.
Yes, this is the level of uncritical fanaticism we’re seeing with Tate stans, everybody.
Unfortunately for them, the reality for Tate appears to be a lot bleaker, as it’s reported one of the brothers was taken to hospital following routine medical checks while in jail.
While it’s not clear which of the duo was treated – if at all – Tate took to Twitter to tweet a cryptic message on Sunday claiming “the Matrix has attacked” him.
“But they misunderstand, you cannot kill an idea. Hard to Kill,” he wrote.
Romanian authorities have also seized his car collection, which he was bragging about just weeks ago in an online spat with climate activist Greta Thunberg.
In a tweet posted on 27 December alongside a picture showing him filling up a bronze Bugatti, Tate wrote: “I have 33 cars … Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions.”
Thunberg, 19, later replied encouraging him to send an email to “SmallD***Energy@GetALife.com”, in a tweet which has since become one of the most-liked tweets on the platform.
As if that burn wasn’t enough, the arrest by Romanian authorities came two days later.
The brothers have appealed against their continued detention at a court in Bucharest, and on Monday their lawyer Eugen Vidineac said there was “no evidence” to support the trafficking or rape allegations levied against them.
He said: “I will point this out from the beginning, that even up to the present moment, the criminal investigation file has not been made available to us to ensure the effective defence of our clients.
“In this sense, I would like to point out, at least from this point of view, I am also somehow amazed, there is not a single piece of evidence apart from the victim’s statement that leads to the idea that a crime of rape was committed.”
When asked what evidence there was in support of the charge of human trafficking, Mr Vidineac replied there is “no evidence there either”.
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