Danny Dyer has revealed his shock at finding out that his nine-year-old son is a fan of the self-proclaimed ‘mysoginist’ Andrew Tate.
The 46-year-old has made a new documentary for Channel 4 called Danny Dyer: How To Be A Man, which premiered last night.
Dyer’s eyes were opened during the making of the programme, when he learned that his son Arty was exposed to the toxic masculinity and anti-feminist views of Tate via his phone.
The British-American influencer is facing trial in Romania charged with rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women.
The 37-year-old rose to fame after he was removed from the British version of reality TV show Big Brother in 2016, following the release of a video that appeared to show him attacking a woman.
Numerous social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, have banned him – with the latter saying that “misogyny is a hateful ideology that is not tolerated”.
Tate was also banned from Twitter for saying women should “bear responsibility” for being sexually assaulted.
Dyer described Tate as a “loud-mouthed, anti-feminist”, and added: “If there wasn’t social media, there would be no Andrew Tate. I remember back in the day, I think Andrew Tate tried to be on Big Brother. So he was looking for fame, and that was his only avenue in.
“Now he’s the most Googled man on the planet apparently, there’s disciples, there’s other little youngsters going, ‘I like what he’s doing, I’m going to do the same thing’.”
The Wall host revealed during last night’s episode that his wife, Joanne Mas, brought their son’s admiration of Andrew Tate to his attention.
“My little boy who’s nine, he’s really smart, but he’s got a phone now. So the other day his mum said to me, ‘Oh, you know, he likes Andrew Tate’, and I went, ‘What?’ So I went, ‘You like Andrew Tate?’ He went, ‘Yeah, that is a top G’.
“And I went, ‘Right, OK. But, you know he says really f**king stupid things?’ And he went, ‘Yeah, but he’s still a top G’.”
A horrified Danny added: “It is flowing through every school, even here. It’s integrating into young boys’ souls. And that’s all they need, because it’s a tough time to be a boy. At school, they’re behind girls at every level. From early years to SATs, GCSEs, A-levels, university admissions and degrees.
“They’ve got to figure out sex and relationships in the post MeToo era, and that’s a minefield. And they’ve got toxic alpha influences promising them empowerment, making them feel good about themselves.”
Dyer’s two-part documentary series explores what masculinity means in the modern day, by asking different men across the nation what they think it means to be a man in our society today and what the future holds for the male identity.
Andrew Tate is currently facing extradition to the UK because his mother currently resides in Luton, where Tate spent a portion of his childhood.
Bedfordshire police said in a statement: “As part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of rape and human trafficking, Bedfordshire police has obtained a European arrest warrant for two men in their 30s.
“We are working with authorities in Romania as part of this investigation and will provide an update in due course.”
Related: The Sun has settled 1,600 claims and paid out £1 billion to keep cases out of court
