On December 29th, 2022, social media influencer Andrew Tate was detained by Romanian officials on suspicion of rape and human trafficking, along with his brother Tristan and two Romanian citizens. They are to be held for 30 days. Many of Tate’s assets, including luxury cars and watches, have been seized as part of the investigation, in total valued at about $4 million.

Andrew Tate is a controversial media personality and former kickboxer. He is most prominently known for openly sharing and promoting his misogynistic views on social media, garnering millions of followers across multiple platforms.

Junior Rena Garcia Carbajal comments, “I believe that people have their own opinions on Andrew Tate but my one is he isn’t a good guy and him being arrested was a good thing. He’s been shown for who he truly is and no one can defend his actions anymore.”

According to the BBC, “…Romania’s Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism [DIICOT] issued a statement but did not name the Tate brothers, stating that two British citizens and two Romanian citizens were suspected of being part of a human trafficking group… officers had identified six people who were ‘sexually exploited’ by what it called an ‘organized criminal group.’” CNN writes that “ ‘The women were lured by pretenses of love, then subjected to ‘physical violence and mental coercion,’’ according to the agency [DIICOT].”

A popular Internet rumor going around points to the Twitter argument that Tate had with environmental activist, Greta Thunberg days prior as the cause of the arrest. During this argument, Tate made a response video where pizza boxes from a Romanian pizza chain could be seen, which caused Internet users to speculate that this confirmed to Romanian authorities they were in the country. However, according to Reuters, “…the anti-organized crime unit representative said it was not the case that Tate’s arrest had been made as a result of the pizza boxes.”

Junior Siya Patel remarks, “I hate Andrew Tate and he deserves to get arrested. I don’t agree with his beliefs like how he’s all about masculinity and has no respect for women. He’s a horrible person in general.”

Even though it appears the majority of people support the arrest, avid Andrew Tate fans are still defending their “top G”, even taking to the streets to protest. A crowd of Tate supporters held a rally in Athens. Footage of this circus showed the crowd holding up posters, pumping their fists in the air, and shouting “Free top G!”