Andrew Tate, the violent, high-profile, virulently misogynistic pro-Trump social media influencer currently imprisoned and under investigation by Romanian authorities due to allegations of organized crime, rape and operating a human trafficking ring, told the Daily Mail through a spokesperson on Friday that he has “a dark spot on his lung” that’s “most likely a tumor,” and that these alleged health woes must “not be taken lightly.”
Doctors caring for Tate, whose most recent appeal to be released from prison was rejected only days ago, are now requesting that he be released from prison in Romania and repatriated to the United Arab Emirates; Tate’s doctors are based in both Romania and Dubai.
On Friday, the Romanian news site Spy News published documents that the outlet claims are Tate’s leaked medical records. One of these documents was supposedly signed on Feb. 23, and the other, which was supposedly signed off by a doctor five days after Tate was arrested in Romania in December, notes the discovery of a “sizable space-occupying lesion” in the upper lobe of the influencer’s right lung. It’s unclear whether these documents are authentic.
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Tate, a former professional kickboxer, attained widespread social media fame via insistent, TikTok-centric dissemination of regressive, sexist content, leading him to be dubbed the “king of toxic masculinity.”
Tate also appeared on Big Brother in 2016, before being removed from the cast within a week after video emerged of him beating his ex-girlfriend with a belt.
The webcam company Tate co-founded with his brother Tristan is at the center of the human trafficking investigation: Tate, Tristan and two other suspects are accused of having “created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost,” the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism said in a statement in December.
As of 2023, Tate is being investigated for two counts of rape. In 2015, Tate was arrested in the UK following a separate allegation of rape, though the Crown Prosecution Service eventually declined to pursue charges, Vice reported in January.
According to Vice, the woman who accused Tate of raping her in 2015 provided a text message exchange with the influencer to police in which Tate had written: “I love raping you.”
