Elon Musk mocks Andrew Tate following human trafficking arrest
Elon Musk has taken to Twitter to seemingly mock Andrew Tate, following his arrest in Romania on human trafficking charges.
Last week Tate, a former Big Brother contestant and anti-feminist far-right commentator, was reportedly arrested alongside his brother Tristan as part of a human trafficking and rape investigation.
It was later confirmed that the pair will be detained for up to 30 days, while police investigate.
According to various reports on social media, Romanian police needed confirmation Tate was in the country before raiding his house, something he gave them during a bizarre video rant aimed at environmental activist Greta Thunberg which featured a pizza box from a local, Romanian takeaway.
Elsewhere in the video, Tate said Thunberg “doesn’t realise she’s been programmed, she doesn’t realise she’s a slave of the matrix. She thinks she’s doing good,” Tate added, before denying climate change. “Someone has sat her down and convinced her, to beg you, to beg your government, to tax you into poverty, to stop the sun from being hot.”
“And then, because I called her out on it, the global matrix got this bot farm to like, retweet and comment to try and pretend that she’s somehow teaching me a lesson.”
Following Tate’s matrix-referencing video and his subsequent arrest, Twitter CEO Elon Musk posted a meme featuring Keanu Reeves’ Neo from the 1999 film The Matrix alongside the phrase, “what if i told you the only way to escape the matrix is to unlearn everything that you have been taught and rebuild your entire belief system based on critical thought and analysis.” Hours later, it was retweeted by Andrew Tate.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 30, 2022
A day later though, Musk tweeted, “sometimes it’s just better to make pizza at home.”
A spokesperson for Romania’s anti-organised crime agency has since refuted claims that authorities were tipped off to Tate’s location by a pizza box. “Funny, but no.”
Tate was banned from Twitter back in 2017, but has reappeared numerous times using alternative accounts. Over the summer, he was also removed from YouTube, TikTok, Facebook and Instagram for hate speech. However, he was allowed back on Twitter shortly after Musk took over the company.
Despite his arrest, Tate’s account is currently being used to protest his innocence and continue ranting about “The Matrix”.
Elsewhere, Musk responded to a satirical article about Greta Thunberg, praising the environmental activist. “The sheer amount of brand awareness achieved by Greta within a few years is astounding. I think she’s cool tbh,” Musk wrote.
“Look into who her parents are and where she gets her funding from. It’s actually a sad story, she’s paid and coached to push a narrative,” wrote conservative comedians Hodgetwins, echoing Tate’s earlier claims. However Musk leapt to Thunberg’s defence once more. “Key test for authenticity is how someone is in live back & forth discussion where canned speeches don’t work,” he replied.
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Ali Shutler
NME
