May 2, 2023 - 7:00am

Andrew Tate, who last week had his house arrest extended to May 29th by Romanian authorities, has certainly been “on one” of late. Over the past week, the former kickboxer and online manosphere personality has used social media to air his thoughts about “crypto kids who got rich in 2021 by scamming in shitcoins or NFTs” and “festihoes” — women who attend festivals with the intention of meeting prominent men — as well as to share now-deleted tweets about “some sort of severe reaction or poison”. The takeaway from his recent posts suggests a man increasingly paranoid and concerned about his safety, relationships, and the legitimacy of his online business.

Tate’s criticism of the “crypto kids” isn’t without merit — he recently chastised them for gaining their wealth through deceitful practices and worthless advice, noting that many are now in adverse financial situations as the once lucrative market for these valueless scams has dwindled. Of course, one might also direct this sort of criticism at Tate’s own “Hustler’s University 4.0,” which claims to provide best-in-class training in everything from cryptocurrency to “freelance writing” (hardly a field in which fortunes are made). Besides, the critique, far from being about the fraudulent nature of the entire crypto business, is entirely personal in nature: the other crypto influencers are “arrogant scamming scumbags” with “childish egos”. 

The “festihoes” criticism speaks to Tate’s recent legal troubles, which run the gamut from sexual assault to human trafficking. As an avowed alpha who has made a considerable sum of money from exploiting the women under his “care” with such money-making schemes as webcamming, Tate took umbrage at the idea of independent women going to festivals to sow their oats. On the same “hoe” theme, he tweeted his disappointment at “vaxihoes”, who supposedly got injected with “DNA-altering poison…because the TV said so”.

All of this is unfolding while Tate deals with the next stage of his detention in Romania — house arrest. In a series of since-deleted tweets on April 27, 2023, Tate revealed he was suffering from symptoms he attributed to “some sort of allergies or poison”, showing his swollen face, red skin, and a video in which he allegedly has trouble breathing. The cause is unclear, but evidently he was in a bad way.

It remains to be seen how Tate’s current legal troubles will impact his future grift-oriented endeavours and unorthodox personal life. This latest round of social media activity paints a picture of a man grappling with uncertainty and fear as he faces an increasingly precarious future in which he may eventually find his relevance, such as it is, ceded to other claimants to the manosphere throne, like former Brigham Young University quarterback and up-and-coming “Alpha’s Creed” grifter Jeremiah “The Bull” Evans

That said, since Tate’s Twitter account was reinstated, he has gained more than six million followers. Despite the erratic nature of his posts, his heightened engagement online could be bringing in revenue for both him and the social media platform. As the walls close in on Tate, it will be interesting to see how low this manliest of online men might sink, as well as who might rise to take his place in that particular demimonde.


Oliver Bateman is a historian and journalist based in Pittsburgh. He blogs, vlogs, and podcasts at his Substack, Oliver Bateman Does the Work

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