Andrew Tate supporters imagine Netflix’s Adolescence is ‘blatant character assassination’

Andrew Tate supporters are complaining about Netflix‘s hit new crime series Adolescence over a brief mention of the controversial influencer.

The four-part miniseries, which landed on the streaming platform on Thursday, follows 13-year-old Jamie Miller (Owen Cooper), who is accused of stabbing his classmate Katie (Emilia Holliday) to death.

Stephen Graham, who stars as Jamie’s father Eddie, co-wrote the show with Jack Thorne and told Sky News the story was inspired by the rise in attacks carried out by incels (males who are involuntary celibate).

The show’s storyline suggests the boys involved in the stabbing have been radicalised by online incel culture which has made them view women and girls in a misogynistic and derogatory way. 

Andrew Tate is mentioned in the second episode when DI Luke Bascombe (Ashley Walters) and DS Misha Frank (Faye Marsay) are speaking to a teacher at Jamie’s school Mrs Fenumore (Jo Hartley).

After speaking to his son Adam, who attends the same school, DI Bascombe tells DS Frank and Mrs Fenumore they misinterpreted some Instagram posts made by victim Katie as he now believes she was bullying Jamie over ‘incel stuff’.

When the teacher is left confused by the word, DS Frank steps in to clarify, saying: ‘It’s the involuntary celibate stuff. It’s the Andrew Tate sh**e.’

Self-proclaimed misogynist Andrew Tate, 38, who is currently under criminal investigations in Romania, Florida and the UK for multiple rape and human trafficking allegations, has amassed over 10 million followers online with his controversial views.

Some of those loyal fans have come out in support of ‘manfluencer’ Tate after hearing him mentioned in Adolescence.

One wrote: ‘They’ll do anything to drag Andrew Tate’s name through the mud. Now they’re trying to link him to a fictional murder in Netflix’s new series Adolescence? 

‘This is beyond insane—blatant character assassination. The media’s agenda knows no bounds.

Another said: ‘There has been another baseless attempted character assassination of Andrew Tate. Netflix, you have a lot to answer for.’

‘Finished that Adolescence on Netflix. Half decent but the whole thing is clearly some toxic masculinity b******s. Blaming Andrew Tate for a lade murdering a little girl, all a bit weird,’ a third wrote.

A fourth post said: ‘So the new Netflix drama Adolescence Episode 2 mocks @Cobratate and I quote “It’s all that Andrew Tate s**t” when referring to “incel” in a school about a murder.’

Tate and his brother Tristan, 36, who have dual British and American citizenship, are both currently under investigation in Romania accused of human trafficking with Tate also accused of raping one of his victims.

However, they were allowed to flee to Florida last week after the Trump administration, which is heavily supported by the Tates, pressured the Romanian government to lift travel restrictions imposed on the pair.

Both brothers were placed under criminal investigation in Florida just days after arriving in the US whilst Tate also faces multiple separate rape and human trafficking allegations in the UK.

Having been arrested in Romania in December 2022, the brothers were charged the following June, accused of tricking seven women into sexual exploitation on fake promises of a relationship or marriage – a technique authorities have dubbed the ‘loverboy method’.

In episode two of Adolescence, DI Bascombe’s son Adam tries to explain the subliminal messages in victim Katie’s Instagram posts about Jamie before she was killed.

He mentions the blue and red pill sentiment synonymous with the 1999 sci-fi film The Matrix which is a common talking point amongst Tate and his fans as he encourages them to ‘escape The Matrix’.

Upon his arrest in Romania, Tate’s X account even put out a post which said: ‘The Matrix sent their agents.’

Tate often reins home the importance of being a ‘high value man’ in order to appeal to ‘high value women’ – which they consider to be women who are modest and submissive to their partners.

Adolescence touches on this when Adam mentions the ’80 to 20 rule’ which suggest, off the back of a study conducted by an online dating service, 80 per cent of women seek to date the ‘top’ 20 per cent of men.

It wrongly implies women are too picky and, as DI Bascombe’s son says, urges men to ‘trick’ women into dating them because ‘you’ll never get them in a normal way’.

Adam also mentioned this rule being ‘a call to action from the manosphere’ –  a word used to describe a vast online community of men promoting toxic masculinity, misogyny and an opposition to feminism.

Speaking about his inspiration for creating Adolescence, Stephen Graham said: ‘I read an article about a young girl who was stabbed to death by a young boy, and then a few months later, on the news, there was a young girl who, again, had been brutally stabbed to death by a young boy in a completely different part of the country.

‘If I’m really honest with you, that hurt my heart and I just thought, why? Why does this kind of thing happen? What is this society? Why have we reached this point where this kind of thing is happening? What was the reason?’

Many of Tate’s cult-like followers refute the idea that his online influence is partly responsible for the rise in misogyny amongst young men and violent crime against women but police chiefs disagree.

In July last year, Deputy Chief Constable Maggie Blyth, national lead for policing violence against women and girls, said ‘toxic’ misogynist Tate’s influence on young boys online was ‘quite terrifying’.

A report published last summer revealed police recorded more than a million crimes against women and girls in 2022/23 – accounting for almost a fifth of all offences excluding fraud – leading bosses to label the crisis a ‘national emergency’.

Police records of violence against women and girls incidents have increased by 37 per cent in just five years, the report from the National Police Chiefs’ Council found.

In October last year, The Mail revealed the Home Office is considering allowing teachers to report misogynistic comments to the government’s Prevent programme, which was set up to combat Islamic extremists.

The Home Office is looking at widening the Prevent programme to combat growing misogyny among teenagers, fuelled by vile social media influencers such as Tate.

Government plans will look to tackle violence against women and girls in the same way as Islamist and far-Right extremism, amid fears that current Home Office guidance is too narrow.

The upcoming change is part of a review ordered by the Home Secretary Yvette Cooper in Britain’s counter-extremism strategy to address gaps in the Government’s stance.

The rapid review will form the basis of a new counter-extremism strategy which the Home Office said it plans to launch this year.