Jake Paul is receiving backlash for defending Andrew Tate, who was banned from various social media platforms for infringing on their policies.
In the past week, Tate has been banned from TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for breaching policies.
The 35-year-old former kickboxer gained notoriety on social media in recent months for his controversial views, many of which have been criticised as misogynistic.
Some of his most viral videos see him expressing opinions such as “women can’t drive” and that 18-year-old women are “more attractive than 25-year-olds because they’ve been through less d***”. Tate has also suggested that women should “shut the f**k up, have kids, sit at home, be quiet and make coffee”.
On Tuesday (23 August), Paul spoke out against Tate being banned from Twitter, writing: “I don’t roll with Andrew Tate. May KO his a** out in the ring one day soon. But I roll with freedom of speech.”
Many people have condemned the internet personality for defending Tate. “Has the time come to ban Jake Paul also???” one person wrote.
Another added: “Freedom of speech ain’t s*** when you’re a misogynistic a**.”
“Freedom of speech is all well and good until your speech starts warping young people’s perception of how to treat others,” one person commented.
Someone else said: “I’m so fed up of people using the ‘freedom of speech card’… Freedom of speech doesn’t give you the pass to hate crime certain people??? That literally not what it is.”
Several others pointed out that social media platforms are privately owned and Tate has been banned for violating their terms, meaning this should not be considered a “freedom of speech” issue.
Tate shared a “final message” in an hour-long video after he was banned by multiple social media platforms.
“I have some responsibility to bear. I still blame myself, because my rise has been so meteoric and I became so famous so quickly,” he said.
Tate said he understands why he was banned from social media, but added that he believes he has been “unfairly vilified”.
“I understand why they did it. It doesn’t matter if it’s a negative view of women, negative view of men negative view of a sexuality, it doesn’t matter what it is, it should be stopped, I agree with that,” he said. “Instagram has a responsibility to show it is listening to the public.”
In a statement to The Independent, Hope not Hate’s research director, Joe Mulhall commented: “In short, [Tate’s] ‘final message’ attempts to completely rewrite his behaviour, justify the unjustifiable, and despite repeatedly saying he takes responsibility, takes no responsibility for the harm his content has and is causing. It’s an attempt to save his reputation.
“Tate can say what he wants but as the last week has shown, the public and social media companies know that his harmful content is unacceptable.”
Hope not Hate is an advocacy group based in the United Kingdom which campaigns against racism and fascism.
You can find out more about the controversial rapper here.
