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Andrew Tate has spoken out after he received backlash over a tweet about Chicago.
The former kickboxer remains under house arrest in Romania as authorities investigate him over charges of rape, human trafficking, and forming a gang to sexually exploit women.
Tate took to Twitter to slam the Windy City and described it as a "s*******" in a tweet that has been viewed 23 million times.
And the controversial influencer stands by his words. His spokesperson told Newsweek that Tate was "saddened" by the violence in the city.
"Andrew has noticed the unacceptable rise of violence in Chicago and is saddened that people, specifically children, are gaining access to deadly weapons with the intent of causing harm," the spokesperson said.
"He hopes everyone remains safe, however, he won't be looking to move there in the near future."
Tate had tweeted: "Imagine living in Chicago on purpose. BY CHOICE. Seriously, imagine being a full grown adult. And waking up in f***** CHICAGO. Looking at the entire globe, then looking around you at the s******* you reside in. And saying 'Yes. I want to live here :) 🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡🤡."
Although Tate did not say what prompted his comments, they came days after the city grabbed attention for a "Teen Takeover" in which videos shared on social media showed youngsters fighting in the streets, jumping on the roof of a bus, and breaking into vehicles and setting them ablaze. Two youths were wounded by gunshots, police said.
Many users on Twitter criticized Tate for his opinion, while other locals agreed with him.
"I do this every single day. Prettiest city in the country," replied one user.
"Chicago is a great place to live, and I couldn't be prouder to call it home. Stop acting like we're a third-world hellhole and start realizing we're actually just a normal large American city with the same systemic issues common across most others," wrote another user.
A third user added: "Having lived in Chicago for a large portion of my life, I can confidently say that I never want to live there again. I now have similar sentiments towards San Francisco due to its lack of strong leadership and the presence of crime, drugs, and other issues."
Comedian Marsha Warfield commented: "As long as I don't wake up next to you, I'm good with it."
Other Twitter users poked fun at Tate's recent arrest in Romania. Tate spent three months in jail as local authorities investigated him, his younger brother Tristan and two Romanian women. All four remain under house arrest and have denied the charges against them.
"chicago pizza > romanian pizza," joked one Twitter user, presumably referring to reports that Romanian authorities were able to track down Tate to arrest him after identifying his location based on a pizza box seen in one of his social media videos. A spokesperson for the Romanian authorities later said that the pizza box did not play a role in Tate's arrest or its timing.
Pro gamer Brian Kibler wrote: "Are their sex crime laws too strict for you or what?"
Tate also responded to the criticism on his Twitter account.
"After tweeting this, thousands of people from Chicago replied something along the lines of: 'Shut up, You wouldn't last a day here without getting shot or robbed' as some sort of defence. Kinda proves my point completely doesn't it? So we agree Chicago is a crime ridden dump?"
Chicago does not rank in the top 10 most dangerous cities in the U.S., according to research by MoneyGeek, a personal finance technology company, which analyzed crime statistics in almost 300 cities with populations over 100,000.
However, crime in Chicago jumped 20 percent in the last five years and 41 percent from 2021 and 2022, per police reports.
It was mainly theft that drove the surge in crime, while robbery, burglary, criminal sexual assault, and aggravated battery declined. Murders declined by 14 percent in 2022 after a 20 percent surge over the past five years.
Almost two-thirds of the city's population said it didn't feel safe from crime, according to a poll conducted by WBEZ.
Crime was a major factor in February's mayoral election, with Mayor-Elect Brandon Johnson snatching victory from Paul Vallas after running on a platform of progressive crime policies.
Despite these statistics, Chicago made a huge leap on the world's most liveable city index in 2021.
The Economist Intelligence Unit's Global Liveability Index ranks the world's cities using "over 30 qualitative and quantitative factors across five broad categories: stability, healthcare, culture and environment, education, and infrastructure."
Chicago moved up 21 spots in 2021 to be ranked the 28th most liveable city overall and was one of 10 cities on the list to improve its ranking significantly in that year.
However, it dropped 20 places on the 2022 rankings, but that might not necessarily have as much to with crime as more with the general national political and cultural environment.
"Many of [the U.S. cities] scored relatively low in the areas of stability and healthcare when compared to some of the top ranking cities in Europe and Canada," Upasana Dutt, head of Liveability Index at EIU told Forbes last year.
"There are a few longstanding structural factors that impede many U.S. cities from challenging other cities in advanced economies at the top of the rankings, such as a greater incidence of social unrest, which is often rooted in the country's ongoing racial inequalities."
UPDATE 04/18/2023 1.08 p.m. EDT: This story was updated with additional information.
About the writer
Shannon Power is a Greek-Australian reporter, but now calls London home. They have worked as across three continents in print, ... Read more