Activist Greta Thunberg gets the last word after Andrew Tate is arrested by Romanian authorities

January 2nd, 2023

On December 27, former kickboxer, professional misogynist, and online businessman Andrew Tate, 36, sent climate activist Greta Thunberg, 19, a boastfully offensive tweet about his sports car collection. Saying that in order to offer Greta a comprehensive list of his automobile collection and each vehicle's massive emissions, he asked for her email address. He presumably thought that making fun of her commitment to the environment would elevate his stature. Instead, she used just a few words to burn the tough guy to a char.

Image Source: Twitter

An analysis of Tate’s tweets

When a man tweets an image of himself filling up one of his cars with gas and makes claims about their status and virility, it is common for men to use cars as symbols of their virility and prestige, and hence Tate tweeted of his “enormous emissions”. Thunberg seemed aware of that when she replied: “yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com.”

Tate's response to Thunberg's criticism was obviously hurtful because ten hours later, he tweeted a haughty video in which he blathered on while wearing a dressing gown, using a cigar and a pizza box as props, in an attempt to demonstrate his status and assert his manhood. Shortly after that, Romanian officials detained him and his brother Tristan Tate in connection with horrifying sex trafficking claims. Tate claims he did nothing wrong.

Image Source: Twitter

The events that followed

Tate has been blocked from the majority of social media sites and is a member of a sizable online network. Yet, just before the tweet that went viral, Elon Musk's Twitter allowed him to get back in. He hoped to gain attention by mocking Thunberg, and he succeeded in doing so just in time to generate international headlines with the announcement of his arrest and the charges. According to at least one report, the Romanian police were alerted to his location by his video's Romanian-brand pizza box. The news of his detention and the charges would not have made national headlines if he had not tormented Thunberg. He sought attention, and found it.

Did the pizza box really get Tate arrested?

After the 36-year-old influencer published a video showing himself making fun of climate activist Greta Thunberg in a Versace robe, smoking a cigar, and getting two boxes of Jerry's Pizza, a popular Romanian brand, the pizza box arrest idea started to take off. Because on December 30, Andrew Tate and his brother were taken into custody by Romanian authorities on charges of rape, people trafficking, and organising a gang. According to some stories, the pizza box provided police with a more precise location for Mr. Tate.

But reports said that Romanian officials have since admitted that the pizza box did not inform those authorities of the presence of the sexist influencer. The catch was that the pizza box had no bearing on the detention or the timing of it, according to Ramona Bolla, a spokeswoman for the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism. "It was a hard job gathering all the evidence in the months-long investigation," she said.

Image Source: Twitter

The truth of Andrew’s Romanian Arrest

The information on a pizza box that ultimately identifies his whereabouts is false, according to Ms. Bolla. According to Romanian authorities, Mr. Tate and his brother Tristan Tate, who have citizenship with both the United States and the United Kingdom, were arrested alongside two other people as part of a "organised crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing, and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialised websites for a cost."

According to reports, Romanian courts have handed down penalties for human trafficking convictions that vary from three to ten years in prison. Five to ten years in jail are the possible sentences for rape.

Image Source: Twitter

Greta gets the last word!

Thunberg drily tweeted the morning of the 30th: “this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes.”

The events of the previous few days serve as a serious reminder of the convergence of macho, misogyny, opposition to climate action and climate science, and the seedy underbelly of figures like Tate enlisting the youth to their beliefs, without any concern for the environment.