Andrew Tate has released an hour-long "final message" via YouTuber-turned-boxer Jake Paul in response to his ban from social media.
Tate, a former kickboxing world champion, has been suspended from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram and Facebook in recent days, largely for his views on women. Paul, who has been linked with a boxing fight with Tate, has defended the American over his right to free speech.
And he has now released a video on his Twitter account along with the caption: "I don’t roll with Andrew Tate. May KO his ass out in the ring one day soon. But I roll with freedom of speech. Andrew Tate speaks on the ban..." The video begins with Tate claiming to have always had a "difficult" life as he recalls his childhood in Chicago.
"I'm very, very happy that my life has been difficult because it is difficult to become a man of my capabilities without the struggles, without facing adversities and without overcoming often insurmountable odds," he says. "Even from a very, very young age, I was taught that going to the authorities and crying and hoping someone else is going to fix your problems is not the way a man conducts himself."
Tate goes on to describe his move to Luton after his parents' divorce, claiming he was bullied for being American and for his lack of knowledge of the curriculum. He goes on to talk about having a gay friend at school whom he claims has now encouraged him to speak out about their friendship in relation to his ban.
"This leads me on to the reason I believe these narratives have gained such a foothold in popular consciousness," he says. "Due to the fact I've been able to develop an iron mind, because I am probably the only individual who can be vilified to this level without taking personal insult and without being emotionally affected. I've allowed certain narratives to gain traction when I shouldn't have done."
Tate claims he has not attempted to dispel what he calls myths around his views on women because he believed people would hate him regardless. "I am fully aware that not everyone is going to believe what I say, there is always going to be someone who disagrees," he continues. "I have no problem with people disagreeing with me and I have no problem in being seen as controversial for some of the things I've said."
The 35-year-old makes two exceptions when he speaks out about "complete and utter lies" being told about him, and of his videos being cut up and taken out of context. He also refutes "false accusations of criminal activity" and insists he does not have a criminal record.
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Tate rose to fame when he appeared on the reality TV show Big Brother in 2016, however, he was removed from the programme after a video surfaced online which appeared to show him attacking a woman with a belt – a clip he claimed had been edited and which the woman in question insisted showed a consensual act.
He has since gained further notoriety online for a number of comments about women, including suggesting that they “bear some responsibility” for being assaulted – an incident for which he was banned from Twitter. A number of campaign groups have criticised Mr Tate for his views and warned he was a danger to young men and boys who see his content online, urging the various platforms on which he is active to remove him.
Videos of and about Tate have become increasingly popular on both YouTube and TikTok – videos using a hashtag of his name have been viewed more than 13billion times on TikTok alone. He now claims to the most-Googled man on the planet.
"To a degree I am a victim of my own success," he continues. "People are trying to find any little clip of anything I've ever said, remove all the tonality and blow it up to get views and be as controversial as possible. This has culminated in the media believing something about me that is so pertinently false, based on videos I have never made, [which are] purported, accelerated and advertised by people I don't even know. I've become the No.1 villain on earth and I believe that is unjust."
Tate sets out to prove that this image is wrong and that he receives up to 5,000 death threats every day. He goes on to say that he receives messages from men every day thanking him for the impact he has had on their lives. "I have affected positively millions of people," he says. "And I am immensely proud of that, I truly am."
Tate goes on to address his ban from Instagram specifically, and admits the social media giant was right to suspend his account. "I’m very understating on why Instagram felt it was necessary to ban me, I am not mad at Instagram - although I believe I have been unfairly vilified," he said.
"I understand why they did it - It doesn’t matter if it's a negative view of women, negative view of men negative view of a sexuality, it doesn't matter what it is, it should be stopped, I agree with that - Instagram have a responsibility to show it is listening to the public.
"I have some responsibility to bear - I still blame myself, because my rise has been so meteoric and became so famous so quickly. My responsibility is that any negative connotations in my videos are removed. The way you say things in a video that gets 500 views is very different from the way you say things in a video that gets 50million views - the more people you reach, the more important it is that people don't take things out of context.
"This ban is the hard reset I needed to tell the truth, for that I’m thankful. This is a chance to move my social media purely to my charitable acts, even if my Instagram is reinstated, it's only going to be about The Tate Foundation, there will be no pictures of Bugattis anymore, sorry gentlemen."
