Chase DeMoor can do the world a favor by knocking out Andrew Tate in their Dec. 20 boxing match, beating him so decisively the embarrassment will follow Tate wherever he goes.
It’s what Tate deserves. His appetites for abuse and degradation of women make him more sociopath than the misogynist he proudly identifies as, and his sway over young men has done damage across the globe.
More than that, though, Tate’s influence is centered around an image of alpha male masculinity, someone who takes what he wants – women, wealth, access – because he’s too strong and powerful for anyone to stop him. If Tate loses to DeMoor, that pretense is shattered.
All of Tate’s bravado and his airs of authority and invincibility will be left on a mat in Dubai. He will be revealed as just another hateful fraud, someone who has risen to stardom by capitalizing on the misfortunes and insecurities of others.
Andrew Tate’s peddling of toxic masculinity a blight on the young
For those unfamiliar with Tate, or why you should be rooting for DeMoor in their Misfits Boxing fight in the United Arab Emirates, consider yourself lucky. In an age when so many awful people have conned large swaths of society into considering them role models, Tate is among the worst, championing a worldview that is medieval. Women are a man’s property and life for men is a series of conquests.
A former professional kickboxer, Tate and his brother Tristan, dual U.S.-British citizens, became superstar influencers because of their abuse of women, unapologetic bigotry and toxic masculinity. It began a decade ago with the brothers, in Andrew Tate’s own words, coercing women into online pornography in Britain.
‘It’s not just about picking up girls,’ Tate said in a 2019 interview. ‘It’s about converting them into really loving you enough to moving in with you and working for you and giving you all the money.’
That money was used to fund an extravagant lifestyle that included flashy cars and private jets, which the brothers flaunted on social media.
The timing could not have been worse, with an increasing number of young men feeling alienated and left behind by society. These young men, who were searching for connection or affection or affirmation or some combination of all, gravitated to the Tates as if they held the secret to happiness.
Instead, Andrew Tate and his brother offered poisonous attitudes – both to the young men who idolized them and the people who’ve suffered the consequences.
Tate dismisses women as inferior to men, characterizing them as only having value for sex and domestic tasks. He claims women are manipulative, and said feminism – you know, the radical idea that women are full and equal human beings who need neither the approval nor permission of men to live their lives – has ’emasculated’ men. Women who are raped, Tate has said, have ‘some responsibility’ for the crime.
Tate also has promoted homophobic, antisemitic and anti-immigrant views. In January, he posted a video that included him giving the Nazi salute.
‘Don’t answer to these crazy idiots. Lean into it. Double down,’ Tate said in the video on X. ‘I am all the things you say I am. I’m so much worse than you could possibly imagine.’
Strong, powerful, manly? DeMoor can shatter that illusion with one blow
Tate has done more than just talk, however. He was kicked off Britain’s Big Brother in 2016 after a video surfaced of him hitting a woman with a belt.
Tate has said the video was a joke, and that he and the woman are friends. But he currently faces charges of rape in Britain and Romania, where he also is accused of having sex with and beating a 15-year-old. Both brothers have been charged with human trafficking in Britain and Romania.
The brothers were allowed in February to leave Romania, where they’d moved because of lax enforcement of laws against sexual violence, after alleged pressure from the Trump administration. No sooner had they arrived back in the United States than Florida opened a criminal investigation into the Tates.
And in March, an ex-girlfriend sued Andrew Tate, saying he had choked and beaten her after consensual sex that month.
So, no, not the type of person who deserves to be admired and emulated. The exact opposite.
People like Tate represent everything that is wrong with our society right now, and the way we recover is by stuffing him and his ilk in the (proverbial) trash bins where they belong.
Tate is not strong, he’s not powerful, he’s not manly. He’s just been allowed to create the illusion that he is. If DeMoor knocks Tate out, if Misfits Boxing’s heavyweight champion makes Tate look foolish, his aura and influence disappear.
There will still be some young men who will follow him, but most will realize Tate is nothing more than a loudmouth bully who hurts other people to make himself feel big. They’ll see him for what he is: crass and criminal.
An Andrew Tate knockout on Saturday wouldn’t just be a win for Chase DeMoor. It’d be a win for all of us.
Follow USA TODAY Sports columnist Nancy Armour on social media @nrarmour.