In recent months, the online influencer Andrew Tate has rocketed to the forefront of conservative media in the United States. As Liam Siegler put it for National Review , “A notable portion of the Right is intrigued by former kickboxer and current masculinity influencer Andrew Tate for the amount of rage he provokes from the Left,” with Tucker Carlson being the highest-profile example of right-wing interest.

Before and after these interviews, Tate has been the target of widespread criticism across the political spectrum, with much of this criticism, along with continued and feverish attention, relating to his indictment in Romania. Along with his brother and two Romanian women, Tate was charged with forming an organized criminal group as recently as 2021 — for human trafficking across Romania, the United Kingdom, and the U.S. — and for rape.

Meanwhile, the response of some Tate defenders is, to some extent, valid: innocent until proven guilty.

But here’s the elephant-sized catch: Rejecting all criticism of Tate by hiding behind the presumption of innocence regarding his criminal charges only works if Tate is an otherwise flawlessly swell, moral guy except for these pesky human trafficking and rape charges.

In reality, even if we ignore these charges, he’s a walking, talking pile of garbage whose foundational philosophy reeks of the very immorality culture-war-conservatives claim to detest.

Let’s take the topic of pornography as an obvious example.

Tate and his brother, Tristan Tate, reportedly made millions from various webcam websites, self-described by the Tates as a “total scam,” with models dressed in lingerie taking calls from viewers for $4 a minute, with additional private shows available.

Whether or not accusations of models lying to manipulate viewers into handing over more money are true, and again setting aside the real problem of alleged human trafficking involved in these forms of businesses, one thing is obvious: This behavior clearly falls into the world of online pornography.

Let alone Andrew Tate’s statements and actions, such as isolating women from friends or other men, lauding the “programmable” nature of women, or using the so-called “loverboy” method to groom women — all attitudes and language that could be taken straight from the conservative-favorite movie Sound of Freedom .

To put it bluntly, Andrew Tate acts like a pimp.

But if we are to believe the mainstream conservative position that pornography is bad , a position pushed by many of the same conservative figures now platforming Tate, how can we justify the elevation of one of its primary advocates as beneficial for conservatism?

We can’t, of course.

The societal obsession with Andrew Tate is both complex and simplistic. The sheer scale of the internet allows people across the political and cultural spectrum to identify and capitalize upon even the most niche niche, made worse by the development of such seething divisions in our society that people are embraced solely for being against the other side.

But this isn’t about Andrew Tate. It’s about the conservative movement and its leaders.

In the context of pornography alone, either pornography is indeed bad, in which case we shouldn’t be elevating men who have made millions selling sex, or pornography isn’t a problem, in which case conservative leaders shouldn’t be telling their audience otherwise.

Time to pick a lane, folks. We can’t do both.

Ian Haworth ( @ighaworth ) is a columnist, speaker, and podcast host. You can find him on Substack .