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Andrew Tate was today likened to a radicalising ‘Pied Piper’ after schools warned his misogynistic rants were being used to challenge female teachers.
The controversial TikTok star’s influence is considered so malign some staff are asking for advice on how to deal with questions about his views.
Sexist diatribes from Tate – currently detained in Romania as part of a human trafficking investigation – are being parroted by male pupils in classrooms.
And the problem has become so serious some of the students, aged around 14, are reportedly refusing to be taught by some female teachers.
Andrew Tate is led away by police, in the Ilfov area, north of Bucharest, Romania, last week
The 36-year-old says he is the ‘world’s first trillionaire’ after making a fortune in online videos
Michael Conroy, founder of Men At Work, trains in areas including challenging sexism and promoting violence-free relationships.
He has delivered 500-plus sessions to social workers and schools in recent months.
He told MailOnline: ‘What Andrew Tate is saying is nothing new, it’s basic misogyny. I look at him as a radicaliser in the same way you would look at an extremist or jihadist. They are using a platform to groom young men – it is a grooming process.
‘Since September every training session I have done teachers have mentioned his name. Teachers are saying 14 or 15-year-olds are basically using Andrew Tate as a kind of catalyst for a conversation they have at school.
Tate monetised his misogynistic TikTok videos, which have over 11billion views and counting
Michael Conroy, founder of Men At Work, says Tate is is a ‘Pied Piper’ figure peddling misogyny
‘It tends to be with female teachers, pupils are quoting Andrew Tate and saying “Well what about this?”. Maybe it’s about consent or something like that.
‘They tend to be raised with female teachers, like some kind of power play or provocative act. Almost as if he is like a Pied Piper.
‘Teachers have said that when the pupils talk about him they kind of puff out their chests like that they represent him. There is definitely the idea that he is some kind of avatar for them.
‘The teachers talk about how his influence is palpable and there are very few men that are not aware of his work.’
Tate’s misogynistic TikTok videos have racked up more than 11.6billion views.
He claims to be worth £100million and is frequently seen showing off his money in expensive cars, private jets and designer clothes.
For Mr Conroy, Tate had managed to spread his views relatively unnoticed by most sections of society due to the platforms he uses.
He added: ‘You can be huge within your own algorithm sphere but most people in the street wouldn’t know who you are. They are separate worlds.
‘But it’s problematic because they can go for a while but because it’s not in the mainstream news, parents might not know what their children are absorbing.
‘The radicalisation process is similar to it, the whole “no-one understands you apart from me” that kind of thing.
Andrew Tate, who has now left the UK to live permanently in Romania, is said to be worth as much as £100m as he monetises the global attention that TikTok has brought him
Tate’s fortune came from crypto-currency and his online Hustler’s University where 127,000 mostly men and boys pay him £39 a month for tips on getting rich and dealing with life
‘As an individual, I think he has taken them a bit by surprise and some of them have spoken to children’s parents about him, just to let them know about him.
‘He has become rich by telling a powerful narrative to young men. He positions himself as thinker but his very shallow because he is all about gratification and doing whatever he wants.
‘Of course there are young men who are horrified by what Tate says too.
‘I think Andrew Tate hates men. Someone that claims to be this alpha character, but at the same time is milking men for money. He is basically a parasite.’
Gender equality campaigner Gina Martin said there was a serious problem with misogyny in some schools.
She wrote: ‘I’ve met teachers who had male students come into classes refusing to learn from “women” because they “don’t know anything”.
‘Later, Tate’s name was mentioned one group of boys who were parroting these sexist lines.
‘I’ve met parents who found out their son’s were listening to podcasts by men that framed success as controlling women.
‘They were terrified that their son’s seemed exactly the same around the dinner table, but were deeply engaged with misogynistic ideas in private.’
Prosecutors say Tate and his brother Tristan allegedly recruited women on social media platforms and persuaded them to travel to their £600,000 bolthole by falsely professing love for them, before forcing them to perform on webcams.
Despite outrage at the many allegations surrounding Tate in the past week, his follower count on Twitter has soared.
Across his online platforms, the shock influencer has gained nearly a million followers since his row with climate activist Greta Thunberg thrust him into the headlines.
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