New Doc to Explore Manosphere Influencer Andrew Tate’s ‘Toxic Empire’

The three-part series will premiere on Nov. 25 on ID and HBO Max

“I used sex as a tool to make women love me, so they’d obey me and live in my house and make people money,” Andrew Tate says in the trailer for the upcoming documentary, Andrew Tate: Toxic Empire. Though many have accused the influencer of lying during his decade in the spotlight, it’s an accurate summation of his career.

Now, that career is the subject of ID’s three-part documentary, the first of which will premiere on ID on Nov. 25 at 9 p.m. ET/PT, with subsequent entries the following two weeks. They will also be available the same night on HBO Max. 

Over the past decade, Tate has gone from a middling professional kickboxer and British reality show contestant to an infamous household name and de facto leader of the manosphere, a loose, online affiliation of disaffected young men. The new series will attempt to trace this evolution, talking with insiders, including men who participated in the War Room — Tate’s high-priced, private network where he spoke directly with followers — as well as women who were in his orbit. 

“He had his claws in me, and I just couldn’t escape,” Lauren Southern says in the trailer, released today. The former right-wing influencer, who has accused Tate of sexual assault, appears in the documentary, as does Mateea Petrescu, who had previously worked as Tate’s publicist in Romania, as well as journalists, filmmakers, and former insiders. (Tate has accused Southern of fabricating the allegations.) The series promises never-before-heard testimonies from people close to Tate, as well as a look at the origins of his “PhD” — ”Pimping Hoes Degree” — program that he offered online, where he purported to teach men how to control women for profit. 

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Tate and his brother Tristan have been the subject of intense scrutiny, especially since their Dec. 2022 arrest in Romania on charges of sex trafficking. Though they have denied all the allegations against them, they’re facing a slew of allegations across three countries — the U.S., U.K., and Romania — and are currently being held in federal detention in Florida as they await extradition to the U.K. (Their lawyer has argued that their detention is unlawful.) 

However, no matter what happens with the numerous cases against them, Andrew Tate remains one of the most fascinating — if notorious — individuals of the internet age. ID’s new show aims to provide new insight into how he created his infamous empire, and why it took so long for the public to catch on.