Supporters of Andrew and Tristan Tate, the misogynist manosphere influencers who were indicted last year on human trafficking charges in Romania, are keeping the duo in the headlines by hosting massive discussions on X.
But according to some who are convinced that the brothers are guilty, those same influencers, who often portray themselves as champions of free speech, are keeping well-informed critics out of the discussion to protect the brothers’ reputations.
The Tates were arrested on Monday in Bucharest after law enforcement in the United Kingdom secured an arrest warrant for additional charges.
Later the same day, the brothers were released from custody when a Romanian judge ruled that they could be extradited to the U.K. to face charges—but only after the conclusion of their criminal case in Romania.
Before the extradition hearing finished, the Bedfordshire Police confirmed they’d obtained an arrest warrant for two men in their 30s as part of an investigation into rape and human trafficking. The alleged crimes happened between 2012 and 2015, reported the BBC, but the brothers “categorically reject all charges.”
After the arrests, Mario Nawfal, a popular personality on X, quickly launched a spaces event to discuss what was next for the Tates.
Nawfal promises “NO BIAS” and “NO ECHO CHAMBERS” on his spaces in his X bio. But according to some critics of Tate, one Nawfal associate—who they say has harassed some of Tate’s alleged victims—prevented them from joining in order to keep unfavorable information about the case from being heard.
“I was asked AGAIN to speak in @MarioNawfal’s space discussing the Tate case. And once again, co-host @ShaykhSulaiman refused to let me speak. He’s a fraud and a coward hiding information for Tate. ‘Unfiltered unbiased’ my ass,” posted @CrayonMurders on Tuesday.
According to screenshots @CrayonMurders shared with the Daily Dot, he was invited to the space by Nawfal’s assistant Anastasia earlier in the day but was never let on the panel.
“Apologies for the delayed reply,” Anastasia wrote in one message. “We do appreciate you [sic] time on the space but it seems there’s an issue with a cohost. We welcome you to another space to avoid conflict.”
Another user claimed to have faced similar treatment as well.
“He also refused to let me speak. He’s a coward,” posted @Gadget44027447.
@ShaykhSulaiman is Sulaiman Ahmed, who NBC reported was a contractor for Nawfal’s company, International Blockchain. On X he’s racked up over 400,000 followers, with a huge boost in recent months from sharing pro-Palestine content during Israel’s bloody attack on the Gaza Strip.
Before he was advocating for the Palestinian cause, he was also directing a targeted campaign of harassment against Tate’s alleged victims, his critics say. In one thread, Gadget documented posts Ahmed made about Tate’s alleged victims, where Ahmed called their accusations false and repeatedly named them.
According to court filings in a civil case that the Tates brought against one of their alleged victims in the U.S., lawyers for the alleged victims argued that Ahmed waged a harassment campaign against their clients by using information given to him by the Tates and their private detectives. Those posts led to harassment “putting her in extreme fear for her safety,” her lawyers argued.
A judge ultimately ruled in September that Tate’s fans posed “a risk of physical harm” and “safety concerns” to his accusers, and that their names would be withheld publicly going forward. But that ruling hasn’t stopped Tate’s team from continuing to name the accusers publicly.
“[H]e was continuing in the space to spread vile lies about this victim of Tate including mentioning her by name repeatedly,” Gadget told the Daily Dot. “I made a post documenting what I would have loved to push back on which was some sick stuff.”
“Mario’s assistant invited me, I made time for it then Sulaiman made sure I didn’t speak because I am very critical of him,” Gadget said, showing screenshots of his DM conversation with Nawfal’s assistant, who goes by Anastasia. “This is my first experience with this but apparently others have had this issue in Mario’s spaces when Sulaiman is involved.”
“This happened to me on the first big Tate space Sulaiman co-hosted, I was promised he’d unblock me and didn’t. But made a big deal about it live and made up things about why he wouldn’t unblock us,” @CrayonMurders told the Daily Dot, who also says he was invited onto the space.
“He’s keeping some of us out because we have court documents that will contradict his Tate propaganda.”
Nawfal, who has a string of dubious business ventures in his past, now presents himself as an unfiltered, unbiased alternative to the mainstream media. On X, that’s meant hosting wide-ranging audio conversations with controversial figures like Vivek Ramaswamy, Elon Musk, Alex Jones, and Andrew Tate. And thought Nawfal presents his show as a neutral forum for discussion, some people say it’s clear which side he’s favoring by not letting well-informed people present information that might be detrimental to the Tates’ defense.
“I came up and spoke for a few minutes under an alt and then I was removed,” @CrayonMurders said. “That’s when she said the co-host had a problem with me.There were only 2 co-hosts and I don’t have any issues with Cerra. She does not block me.”
@CrayonMurders was invited onto the space on the recommendation of Nathan Livingstone, an Australian independent filmmaker who goes by @TheMilkBarTV on X. Livingstone has posted multiple videos compiling what he says are lies and contradictions in Andrew Tate’s story, as well as arguments by his defenders.
According to screenshots he shared of his own conversation with Anastasia, Livingstone was also invited onto the space but had to turn it down when he couldn’t make it. Livingstone argued that @CrayonMurders should take his place.
“@CrayonMurders is the man you want,” he added.
That exchange happened just 20 minutes before the show.
Neither Ahmed or Nawfal responded to questions regarding whether certain users were kept from speaking in the space.
“There were a few people who were asked to speak but were not brought on stage. They seem to have kept the original speakers up there,” said @CrayonMurders. “And not surprisingly, with the exception of one guy, the other person they brought up to talk about Tate (‘Tate hater’), isn’t actually knowledgeable about the case. That was by design.”
In the space, Ahmed repeatedly named one of the victims and claimed there were significant problems with evidence in the case.
“There were significant issues in terms of the evidence that was provided, because it was, for example, one-sided. It would have conversations that were just one-sided, or there were issues with some of the witnesses,” Ahmed said in the space, acknowledging that he hadn’t seen the British charges or even looked into the case in months.
Whatever happens in the Romanian case, the Tate brothers now have U.K. charges to face, so their legal battle won’t be over soon, which means there may be plenty more Nawfal spaces discussing the charges. But @CrayonMurders doesn’t expect to see anybody in those spaces who’s able to make the case in the court of public opinion against him.
“He’s blocked almost everyone who has the ability to show he’s lying about the Tate case,” @CrayonMurders said.
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