UPDATED: See end of story. Pizza box thing not true.
It’s been a rough couple of days for musclebound professional misogynist Andrew Tate. Yesterday, his attempts to troll environmental activist Greta Thunberg on Twitter backfired spectacularly, inspiring widespread ridicule. Then, today, his Romanian villa was reportedly raided by the police in connection with the alleged kidnapping of two young women.
We’ll get to that in a moment. But first, l’affaire Thunberg. Yesterday, for no apparent reason, the 36-year-old Tate decided to tweet at the 19-year-old activist, boasting about his enormous collection of cars. He told her he’d provide “a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions” if she sent him her email address.
Thunberg replied:
Some ten hours later, Tate reacted a bit like Margaret Dumont in an old Marx Brothers movie. “How dare you?!” he tweeted.
He then released this rebuttal video, in which he declared that she was the one with the small dick, not he. Yes, it apparently took him ten hours to come up with that one.
Today, he was more than just owned online: His Romanian villa was raided by the country’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism, and he and his brother were detained for questioning, according to the Daily Mail
The raid is related to an ongoing probe into alleged human trafficking. According to Semafor,
the suspects allegedly used a “loverboy method” to lure victims into relationships and then sexually and mentally abused them to perform in exploitative videos, authorities said.
This was the second police raid on Tate’s villa. The first took place last April after it was claimed that a woman was being held at the mansion against her will. “As the probe continued,” the Daily Beast reported at the time, “it escalated to include ‘crimes of human trafficking and rape.'”
Tate said then that the original raid was just a SWATting attempt gone wrong. Seems like that might not have been the case. He also claimed he moved to Romania partly because the authorities there would be less likely to take rape charges against him seriously. Apparently, not so much.
I wish Tate only the worst. If he’s guilty of the crimes he’s suspected of–he has yet to be charged, much less convicted–I hope he rots in a Romanian prison.
UPDATE: The speculation about the pizza box giving away his location turns out to not have been true, so I removed it from the piece.
UPDATE 2: The cops are now holding him for 30 days.
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@Moggie—
I wondered about that too, but if Tate kept going back and forth between Romania and Dubai then my guess is that the pizza box plus the fact he’d only just just posted the video meant he was in Romania and hadn’t had enough time yet to make a dash for the nearest airport? Presumably they could also check with the pizza company to find out when he’d placed his most recent order.
Damn, he looks like Jon Cryer as Lex Luthor. Perhaps Greta Thunberg is secretly a member of the Titans.
Watching that ridiculous douche in action, it struck me that Tate is basically what you’d get if Davis Aurini hit the gym more. I was half expecting to spot a skull in the background of his video.
My other thought was that he seems like a fourteen year old boy’s idea of a manly man. Apparently he’s pretty popular with teenagers who haven’t figured out masculinity yet, but if you’re an adult who looks up to him, that’s pretty sad.
@Alan: Y’know, that kinda makes me want to destroy ferrari cars on principle. Wouldn’t fix anything, but that kind of elitist nonsense really makes me want to trash some private property. Not that I’d ever actually do that, but the urge is there (there’s a reason the only racing games I play are the ones where you can completely and utterly wreck every car).
@Moggie: Ah, that was the resemblance. The faux distinguished pose, the beverage. I don’t recall ever having seen Aurini smoke a cigar but it wouldn’t surprise me. As for young adult views of men… I guess it at least could help people come to grips with early onset baldness? But becoming a toxic douchecanoe is not a good tradeoff for that.
@ Alan:
On the one hand, that’s disgustingly snobbish—on the other I guess snobbery is what luxury brands are really selling, and their reputation can switch from “chic” to “tacky” in an instant (or an Instagram) depending on who’s seen wearing or driving their product.
I remember a story years ago that claimed some fancy company had gifted one of their rivals’ handbags to Snooki (remember her?) in the hopes of driving down the brand’s perceived appeal.
@ battering lamb
In the 60s an Italian guy who owed a tractor company bought a series of Ferraris. However he too found Ferrari’s after sales service and just general attitude pretty poor.
As it happens he got to meet Enzo Ferrari at some Italian business owners’ do. He raised his concerns. Enzo just brushed him off and patronised him. He was a bit annoyed about that especially when Enzo effectively said “Yeah, but what you gonna do about it?’
That tractor factory owner’s name? Ferruccio Lamborghini.
Lamborghini’s tractor guys loved it. “Hey, the boss wants us to build a better car than a Ferrari”…
But they got some designers in to help with the bodywork for the cars; and then the designers got working with the tractor guys…
ETA: Lamborghini have been known to sell their cars at a loss just to piss off Ferrari. I love how Italians know how to do a vendetta properly.
And now the Romanian police have asked for a thirty day extension to their holding of Tate to continue investigations. What a shame . . . *snigger*
I’m sorry, it’s the sheer irony of him puffing on this cylindrical object ( that is probably bigger than his own) while going on about Greta’s small dick energy, that gets me!
I’ve warned against people getting into online fights with Gen Z (and to a certain degree some Millenials). They will destroy a person every time. They are utterly merciless when it comes to online sass!
Then of course there’s the schadenfreude.
Seth S
I’m reminded of that line from What We Do In The Shadows:
“…burnt to a sizzle!”
@ Lakitha K Tolbert
Regarding online sass, I recently had cause to be reminded of John Oliver’s musical number about Bob Murray, whence I found out it was one of the last things that must have been released about him before he died. I was going to feel bad…
… until I found out he made a claim to the government’s black lung funds, having fought against them all his life. Sounds like a line from the dang song!
“I do wonder about his car collection. There are some very expensive ones; but I wonder if he owns outright or they’re leased or on finance.”
@Alan Robertshaw He doesn’t own them. He claims to have made tons of money from the webcam business (I wonder what the pornography laws are like in Romania) combined with his online business of getting stupid young men to sign up for his “leaving the matrix” packages which are basically just some videos teaching them how to do drop-shipping, of all things. Drop-shipping plastic products is somehow non-matrixy in their view. One can teach oneself drop-shipping for free so it’s a total scam with zero value.
None of the above could net mega-millions but if by chance he is super rich, I am pretty sure it’s because of human trafficking, perhaps drugs and weapons trafficking as well because he doesn’t have a product on the market, he hasn’t created anything, doesn’t have a recognizable company, nothing. Just blabs on the internet and somehow got “rich”. As soon as I heard he lives between Dubai and Romania I knew what for.
Dubai porta-potty, people. Dubai porta-potty.
@Big Titty Demon He also fired for bankruptcy, saying the company was never profitable, but nonetheless, somehow earned hundreds of millions of dollars from it.He was also a rape suspect, and don’t forget the nine minors who died on his watch, because he specifically directed his workers to ignore the safety report. While those minors’ children were crying about their fathers, he yelled at them that the whole thing was the fault of the union. Bob Murry does not deserve any pity. He was a terrible, terrible man. In a just world, he would have died in prison, but I will take the long painful death from black lung.
@Alan Robertshaw
That is some serious tractor.
@Buttercup: I too am stealing that. Bravo!
@BTD: I love how she got in a BTW slam which is in service of her work.
@Trying: I think we here all understand that. (The trans men I know don’t even have dicks; the penis was never the goal for them. But then, they’re not assholes)
BUT — Greta picked the insult that would most hurt his fee-fees. Particularly since his dick is what’s been driving his behavior (remember there were inquiries earlier this year). Also she’s an autistic teenager. Obviously she chose the perfect wording to clap back at him suddenly showing up and attacking her. Also as a former jock, he probably did steroids and may literally have a small dick to compensate for.
@Nequam also has a good point. I’m no string bean myself now (and when young, was painfully skinny), but I’m not sloppy and pretending I’m svelte and athletic. And I don’t wear a girdle like TFG. In my young scrawny days, I still didn’t approve of anorexia. My freshman year of college, all the girls in the dorm went on a moderate, sensible diet to lose a few pounds, with weekly weigh-ins; I had to do it too, but to gain weight. Which we all succeeded at, safely.
@Carstonio: Exactly, with the Hubbard comparison.
Also, Cryer as Luthor was my first thought too! Except Lex actually was a titan of industry and worked really hard, even if he was evil. I don’t think he was out there abusing women in his spare time; too busy trying to take down super-persons and it’s bad PR as well.
@Moggie: I figured the same as @Moon Custafer. He’s popping in and out of there in private (maybe even Dubai diplomatic) jets all the time, and that video clearly shows he was in Romania that day.
So it was plausible that it could be true, even if it’s not. Trust the Daily Mail to get it wrong. Print the legend, after all.
@ObSidJag: hello again! Hope the shoulder heals well.
@Alan: interesting. So bragging about those cars is not only non-U, but also really is small dick energy.
That video was amusing. Not as funny as the George Takei tweet that showed up below in the “related”:
@GeorgeTakei
·
Dec 29
So…Elon Musk let Andrew Tate back on Twitter, and Tate promptly used it to reveal his whereabouts to authorities in Romania who then arrested him.
All because Greta Thunberg owned him so hard his little wee-wee fell off.
Do I have that right? Please say I have that right.
George is seldom wrong. A national treasure, and still posting and working at 85! He’s about to open a show in the West End.
Alan wrote:
Any car is low emissions if it sits in a garage because its owner is busy playing with other cars. One man can only drive one car at a time, regardless of how many cars he owns, or how expertly he appreciates them, or how much he paid for them.
If I were in Thunberg’s place, I’d have been tempted to inquire Tate if he pays 33 (or 32, in addition to himself) people to drive his cars around all day for no reason. After all, that’s what a man with real money and real balls would do, if he wanted to piss off an environmentalist. If you aren’t doing that, your expensive fleet of cars is no more offensive than some regular dude’s truck.
But then again, logic and subtlety are apparently lost on most social media audiences, and especially the sort of boys and men who follow Tate and need to be disabused of the impression that he’s cool. I’ve seen people argue on Finnish Twitter that Thunberg’s reply was perfect in that it was snappy, simplistic and focused on just the right kind of ad hominem. Supposedly, the target audience here only perceives certain kinds of simple insults as insulting (like “UR DICK SMALL”), and that’s regardless of whether the insult is meaningfully relevant to the target. You couldn’t insult Tate’s intelligence in a way that’s meaningful to his fans, but if you can confidently lob the right kind of insult at him, that’s an act of dominance. It’s something he probably didn’t expect when he chose you specifically for his trolling target. It’s something that can make him lose the match, or at least falter in the eyes of his fans.
Another manosphere type who’s guilty of physical and/or sexual abuse – like Roosh, “Arthur Knight,” etc… Doesn’t seem that coincidental anymore, if it ever did.
On a lighter note, with him saying “enormous emissions,” the dick jokes kind of write themselves!
@GSS ex-noob
Irrelevant, because he isn’t the only one who hears it. This is called splash damage , where an insult chosen for that reason winds up demeaning a blameless and often marginalized group.
IME, we’re better at grokking systemic things like this, so this is an extra fail on her part.
@GSS ex-noob: thank you; I appreciate that. I have actually gotten pretty good at getting into/out of the sling. Sleeping with it on, however, is still…ugh…a struggle.
@Alan Robertshaw: you always share such interesting information. Okay, I admit the legal stuff is sometimes the equivalent of Sominex in digital form for me. Nothing personal, obviously: I sometimes feel the same when listening to my brother (also an attorney). Loved the Lamborghini info, especially.
@ love is all we need
That doesn’t surprise me. Apparently a number of high profile ‘bling’ type YouTubers turned out just to have everything on HP or loan, and were filming things in houses where their mum was the estate agent trying to sell it.
No doubt he’s made some cash scamming teenagers; but I suspect there may be a lot of ‘all mouth and no trousers’ as we used to say up north.
@ do I have a name
Isn’t it just?
I go to a lot of agricultural auctions (not the livestock ones obviously) and I keep an eye out for old Lambo tractors. I just fancy next time I’m with some magic circle lawyer types bragging about their cars being able to say “I mainly just use my Lambo for off roading”.
Trouble is, down here, tractor collecting is a pretty popular hobby, so all old tractors go for loads. Ironically some of the old steam ones go for more than real Lamborghini sports cars.
@ lumipuna
Indeed. That’s why I like V8s. The quicker I can get somewhere, the less time I am actually driving, thus the lower the environmental impact. That’s just science.
@ obsidjag
That is so kind of you to say. I just like learning about stuff and rambling. And I totally get you on the legal stuff. You know when sometimes you just can’t get to sleep. I try to recollect the feeling of being in court at 3 o’clock on a Thursday afternoon. That’s like knockout gas. (You know that thing where you look at a clock, then you look again a few minutes later and the second hand hasn’t even moved)
@ gss ex-noob
Yup. The test of a car is whether people let you out at junctions. Apparently Ferraris are on the ‘fuck it, you wait there’ list. So even the properly owned Ferraris are considered a bit vulgar; let alone the Veblen addict ones.
It’s not a class or money thing, people let out Aston Martins.
@gss ex-noob
I’m sorry, I’ve lost the plot and can’t seem to pick it back up again, but I didn’t want to just ghost the convo. I’m generally of a “yay Greta!” bent though, as it is so hard to be young and female in the public eye, constantly attacked by everyone. Shit I couldn’t handle being young and female and constantly attacked without the public eye.
@Dave
Yes, his rap sheet is long and multivariate: I was not really going to feel sorry for him any more than the thought of the Trumps being discomfited by various satires bothers me.
@ Dalilama
The small d insult always bothered me. Like, who cares about size? It just reinforces and even gives some legitimacy to some (maybe many?) men’s obsession with their own private parts, which I never understood.
I’m willing to bet though that practically all transmen have none of the ego mania and sexual prowess obsession that Tate and his ilk have.
The first thing I noticed when I saw a pic of Tate was his chin situation. I immediately thought this guy is a bloviating blow-hard to compensate for his chin or lack thereof. I think a comeback about his chin would have hurt him more. I imagine he was bullied over it as a kid. But this too is cruel thinking on my part. But then I think how women have been ridiculed for our looks since the beginning of time so I don’t feel so bad. Especially not in regards to someone like Tate. He put himself out here front and center. Nobody asked for it.
There’s a “lookism” movement within the incelsphere that breaks down facial ratio and this chin thing is a big deal there.
How old is Tate?
Further to our chat above, I’ve been looking at their owners’ T&Cs. You have to be over 40.
There are some quite interesting things in there. You can’t paint your car pink or salmon. You can’t obscure the logo. You’re not allowed to make any negative comments about Ferrari or your car; and, in the spirit of that vendetta, you can’t own a Lamborghini.
Also related.
What do people think of this photo? Bit tacky maybe?
Well Ferrari thought so. So they sued the guy who posted it to Instagram. And won.
This was a judgement in an Italian court, so maybe a bit of home team advantage. But the judgement was enforceable in Germany where the guy lived.
But wonder if they’ll do anything about Tate. They are notoriously litigious when it comes to protecting the brand.
@Alan: There are not many Ferraris or Lambos hereabouts, but the few I have seen were indeed assholes. The extremely occasional Aston Martin were courteous. So as you said, it’s nowt to do with price.
Jags are of varying politeness — they have an electric model now. I test drove one of those and if I’d had the money, I’d have bought it on the spot — like the rich Eurotrash couple in front of us did. The Sikh brothers nearby were looking at all the ICE ones from cheapest to most expensive, but Bibi-ji sat in all of them and didn’t agree to anything but the priciest. “Unsurprised resignation” was their reaction. I smoked a Tesla off a stoplight during my drive; couldn’t see the cocky dudebro driver’s reaction as he was so far behind me. Me, the Mr. and the employee all cackled.
Here, it’s the Tesla owners who drive like entitled jerks. (I’m talking the newest, lowest-priced one). They will ALWAYS cut you off in traffic, not let you change lanes, etc. They park in disabled spaces or across 2 regular spaces and if I was to go by my experience, Teslas don’t have turn signals installed. I’ve never seen one used, anyway. I joke that every car comes with a piece of Muskrat in them which takes over your personality. Also, of course, his toxic fanboys love to buy them. I read where owners are boo-hooing that people are treating them badly in traffic since the Twitter sale. No, you assholes, we simply noticed your driving behavior way before that, and we’re tired of it. As certain bards famously said “we’re not gonna take it any more”. I’ve only seen one courteous Tesla driver, and it was a woman; probably not her car. It’s worth your life to drive past the Whole Foods at some hours.
@epitome: slaps head I didn’t even catch that! He really was asking for it!
@Alan again: Very tacky, so non-U, much asshole. Good for Ferrari.