- Andrew Tate's request for release from jail has been denied by a Romanian judge, per BBC.
- Tate was arrested with his brother and two Romanian women in December.
Andrew Tate's request to be released from Romanian jail has been denied and he will remain in detention as Romanian authorities carry out a sex trafficking investigation into him, his brother, and two others.
Tate, his brother Tristan, and two Romanian women were photographed pulling up to the courthouse in a police van on Tuesday for the appeal hearing, which lasted some five hours, according to BBC.
All four were arrested in December as part of a human trafficking and rape investigation, and a court approved a request from authorities to jail them for 30 days.
Tate, Tristan, and the two women — Georgiana Naghe and Luana Radu — are accused of exploiting women to produce porn for their online business, including one woman who has made accusations of rape. All four defendants in the case lost the appeal and will remain in detention at least through the end of January.
Following his arrest, there were reports Tate and his brother's cars and properties had been seized by Romanian authorities. There were also rumors one of them had been sent to the hospital.
Tate's lawyer gave an interview to the Romanian news outlet Gândul in which he said there was no evidence against the brothers. He also told Sky News reporter Adam Parsons the Tates maintain their innocence.
Tate, who recently converted to Islam, was seen carrying a Quran as he walked into court.
Tate built up his online fame by labeling himself the "king of toxic masculinity." His content, which is overtly misogynistic, has earned him an icon status among a subset of men, who find his lavish wealth to be inspiring and his sexist dating advice amusing. While his fans argue Tate only wants men to better their lives and mental health, his critics find more insidious messages to be sprinkled in through the innocuous ones.
The renewed spotlight on the sex-trafficking allegations followed a Twitter spat with climate activist Greta Thunberg. After Tate bragged to Thunberg about his 33 cars with "enormous emissions," in response, Thunberg told him to email her more info about his cars at "smalldickenergy@getalife.com."
Her response garnered over 3 million likes.
Andrew Tate's paid video subscription program "Hustler University," has amassed him tens of millions of dollars and a legion of largely male followers, according to Buzzfeed News.
In one video, Tate said women who are sexually assaulted should "bear responsibility" for what happened to them. In another, he described how he would punish a woman if she ever cheated on him: "bang out the machete, boom in her face, and grip her by the neck."
Vice World News reported last week that Tate had been arrested on suspicion of rape in the UK in 2015, but authorities dropped the case. Tate denied the allegations.
Tate was removed from Instagram and YouTube in August last year, but was reinstated on Twitter when Elon Musk took over the platform, where he has 4.5 million followers.