Andrew Tate detained in Romania rape case. Trolling Greta Thunberg and a pizza box proved too costly

The Internet was in splits just yesterday as two famous people from opposite ends of the ideological spectrum - Greta Thunberg, teen climate change activist, and Andrew Tate, "alpha male", misogynist and homophobic influencer, faced off in a series of tweets. 

And now reports are saying that the "King of Toxic Masculinity" who preaches that women are properties to be owned by men, Andrew Tate, has been detained by Romanian authorities in connection with a human trafficking and rape investigation. You read that right!

Maybe Tate's "women should bear responsibility for rape" mindset wasn't just for social media fame.

What happened? Romanian authorities detained Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan Tate on December 29 from his house in Romania's capital Bucharest in an ongoing investigation into a case of human trafficking and rape. 

• The investigation into the case has been going on since April 2022. 

• This is the second time authorities have questioned the Tate brothers. 
• The first time they were interrogated after a US Embassy complaint in April claimed that an American citizen was held hostage at the Tates' residence. 
• The authorities also conducted raids at five different locations.

Check out the video of the raids by DIICOT: 

The last part where the blurred video of cars is shown reportedly belongs to the Tate brothers, the same ones that Andrew Tate boasted in his tweet to Greta Thunberg of owning and emitting carbon emissions.  

What does Andrew Tate have to say: Though the authorities have not named Andrew or Tristan Tate in their official statements in the case, a spokesperson for the Tates said:

• There is no word on whether they will get bail. 
• They will be reportedly detained for 24 hours. 

What's the case? So far, four people including the Tates have been detained in the case, which the Directorate for the Investigation of Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) calls the "loverboy" scheme.

• Tates and two others (Romanian nationals) have been accused of sexually exploiting at least six women.
• What is the "loverboy" scheme? The accused reportedly lured women from other countries to Romania by pretending to have a romantic relationship with them. 
• Then, they used threats of physical violence and mental manipulation to force the victims into creating porn, which was sold online on sites like OnlyFans for money. 
• The four suspects are also accused of a rape that reportedly took place in March 2022.  

Did a pizza box lead to Andrew Tate's arrest? Several reports are claiming that Romanian authorities managed to track down Andrew Tate's latest location from the video he posted in response to climate change activist Great Thunberg's savage response. 

• After Greta Thunberg asked Tate to "get a life", the Internet guru replied with a video that showed his "life" in a Versace robe, smoking a cigar, except, the video also showed a pizza box belonging to a local Romanian pizza chain.

Thank you for confirming via your email address that you have a small penis @GretaThunberg

The world was curious.

And I do agree you should get a life ❤️ https://t.co/mHmiKHjDGH pic.twitter.com/SMisajQRcf

— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) December 28, 2022

• Reports are now saying that authorities were able to confirm that Tate was indeed at his Bucharest home by looking at the pizza box. 
• Reportedly, Romanian authorities had been trying to detain Andrew Tate for a while but he was often travelling outside Romania, so authorities weren't able to catch him.

Romanian authorities needed proof that Andrew Tate was in the country so they reportedly used his social media posts. His ridiculous video yesterday featured a pizza from a Romanian pizza chain, Jerry's Pizza, confirming he was in the country.

This is absolutely epic. pic.twitter.com/kyz4pqegkJ

— Alejandra Caraballo (@Esqueer_) December 29, 2022

• Twitter is calling this Karma. Even Andrew Tate's Wikipedia page shows him losing a match to Greta Thunberg. 

Ok, who did this to Andrew Tate's wikipedia page? @GretaThunberg pic.twitter.com/2uEgiit9ui

— Matthew Thiessen (@MattThiessenNT) December 29, 2022

• However, no Romanian media report makes a mention of the pizza box leading to Andrew Tate's detention (of course). It only says that police mobilised the raid on the Tates after seeing "indicators" on social media that the brothers were in Romania. 
• Given that Andrew Tate is a prolific poster on social media, he had already shared several posts about his location. 

On the other hand, Greta Thunberg had a mic drop response to Andrew Tate's detention. 

this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 30, 2022 

Who is Andrew Tate? Andrew Tate is a British national who was born in the US. He is a 36-year-old kickboxer-turned-Internet guru who was banned from several major social media platforms like TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram for perpetuating misogynistic ideology.

• His Twitter account was only recently reinstated by Elon Musk. 
• Tate moved to Romania five years ago and has said that 40% of the reason for his move is "because in Eastern Europe, none of this garbage flies," referring to the #MeToo movement. 
• His biggest climb to fame was when he was kicked out of the British reality TV show Big Brother, like India's Bigg Boss after a video of him beating a woman with a belt went viral. 

In the past, Andrew Tate has admitted to running a "webcam business" involving women luring men who needed companionship. Reportedly, the Tates operate a number of restaurants, and casinos among other businesses in Bucharest.