Yahoo News Andrew Tate: Nine-year-olds watch videos by influencer accused of rape
The social media personality, who said women should "bear responsibility" for being raped, has found a foothold with boys as young as nine.
Teachers are having to talk to children as young as nine who have watched misogynistic videos posted by online personality Andrew Tate.
The self-styled self-help guru, who said women should "bear responsibility" for being raped, has found huge popularity with young boys - prompting schools to take action to prevent his toxic message being spread further.
"Andrew Tate is part of the training we have to do now, even in primary schools," one deputy headteacher at an east London primary school told Yahoo News UK.
Read more: Who is Andrew Tate and why is he so divisive? (Yahoo News UK, 4-min read)
"If the kids are talking about it, we have to add it to our safeguarding log and we have year five children who have seen his videos and are talking about what they've seen."
"We don’t ever mention his name as we don’t want to give him any air time," the deputy head continued. "But because of him we have planned in more assemblies and lessons around values such as equality, misogyny, right and wrong etc.
"We’ve also had staff insets about what to look out for and what to do if we see/hear talk about him."
The teacher also said the school had doled out warnings to staff who discussed the TikToker, and had to call in the parents of children aged nine and 10 who were talking about his videos at school.
Tate, 36, who is currently being held in prison in Romania over charges of rape and sex-trafficking, is pedalling a brand of toxic masculinity that has found a strong foothold with teenage boys - with educators and charities warning his influence could radicalise teenagers.
His TikTok hashtag has been viewed more than 13 billion times, and allegations of rape and violence against women - which Tate denies - have done little to loosen his foothold with his audience of young men, who refer to themselves as being part of his 'Hustlers' University'.
“A lot of boys look up to him as a figure of male strength," a secondary school teacher told Wales Online. "When you try to talk to some of them about the truth of Andrew Tate they just don’t believe that he has been locked up [on] suspicion of rape and trafficking and say it’s 'fake news'.
“When I have asked them about the disgusting things he says about women they say it’s a joke. When I’ve asked if they would like their mothers and sisters to be spoken of like that some have said they wouldn’t, but then say it’s OK because the women Tate talks about are 'p*****s'."
Despite being held in prison for almost two months, the former kickboxer has continued to post to social media, sharing bizarre videos and conspiracy theories with his young fans.
