If you hadn't heard of Andrew Tate up until now then you're one of the lucky ones, as the former kickboxer has shot to fame on TikTok for all the wrong reasons.
Before his viral fame, he was the guy who got kicked off Big Brother in 2016 after about a week, and now clips of him are popping up all over the internet.
According to The Guardian's Observer, the 35-year-old has said women are a man's property and can't drive, while claiming victims of rape should have to 'bear responsibility' for being attacked and dates 18-year-olds as he can 'make an imprint' on them.
Videos of Tate posted to TikTok have been watched 11.6 billion times, and an investigation by The Observer found that the site's algorithms promoted videos featuring him.
In response, TikTok promised to clamp down on 'hateful' content, including videos containing misogyny.
There’s only one Andy Tate worth recognising pic.twitter.com/MoY8DoNH7m https://t.co/hyMcMDonpt
— Jack Mansfield (@jackmansfeeld) August 11, 2022
However, before Andrew Tate there was Andy Tate, the voice of Manchester United fans unhappy with the way the club had gone since Sir Alex Ferguson retired as manager.
People got their first glimpse of Andy Tate on the internet when United fan channel Full Time Devils started doing fancams to capture fan reactions after games, and with United in a bad place there was plenty of venting to be done.
Nobody quite captured the spirit of angry United fans like Tate, who soon became a regular on the channel and gained an incredible following.
He got so famous that they ended up making a soundboard app of the guy, I can neither confirm nor deny that in my younger days I got some use out of it.
In a backlash to the rising popularity of Andrew Tate, people are saying there's only one Andy Tate who deserves to be famous on the internet, and it's the guy who shot to fame calling David Moyes a fool.
I miss the days when I heard the name Andrew/Andy Tate I’d think of this fella pic.twitter.com/RQCUYsbxmO
— Tom (@TomasTaylor4) August 11, 2022
Honestly, you really would be much better off forgetting Andrew altogether and just paying attention to Andy, especially since the state United is in means a lot of the things he's said are still pretty relevant.
Even if David Moyes has since turned around his managerial career at West Ham and nobody in their right minds would 'give it Giggsy until the end of the season' these days, United are still pretty shambolic and there are plenty of other fans who have followed Andy Tate's lead in venting their fury.
There are good ways and bad ways to spend your time on the internet, if you want to watch clips of a guy called Tate then make sure it's the one and only Andy.
