Warning: This article references both sexual violence and the defense of a convicted abuser, and may be potentially triggering for some readers.
It seems like Big Brother season 25 is one never-ending controversy.
After contestant Lukas Valentine was ejected from the house following his use of a racial slur last month, you would think the remaining housemates would learn a lesson about making offensive statements — especially in front of TV cameras — but this doesn’t seem to be the case.
Footage from the morning feed on Sept. 5 drew criticism across Twitter and Reddit, after viewers picked up on some statements by contestant Matt Klotz. In them, he appeared to quote polarizing media personality Andrew Tate.
Tate, a former Big Brother contestant himself, is widely considered to be a misogynist, and is currently awaiting trial for rape, organized crimes regarding the coerced creation of pornography, and sex trafficking. Prior to his arrest last year, Tate had a huge social media following consisting of predominately men, through which he gave advice on manhood and navigating relationships with women, in order to achieve supposed lifestyles of high masculinity and luxury.
A full clip of Klotz’s conversation reveals that the housemate referenced Tate directly. While trying to remember a quote, Klotz said “It was, um, Andrew Tate….yeah, yeah….and it’s like ‘boys are so simple, you just get two, three, four boys, and no matter what, you don’t need a phone, you don’t need to be anywhere, you can be in the house, and you can call it a good day.”
Klotz appeared to be laughing, as well as slightly reluctant, when admitting the quote was by Tate. The off-camera person he was talking to said “oh” in surprise when he admitted this, causing Klotz to make a face and respond with “yeah, yeah….”
Klotz didn’t outright state his thoughts on Tate, but the rather awkward exchange when he revealed the original source of the quote seems to show the House Guest knew he was saying something controversial.
Immediately after the footage was seen on TV and streams, Klotz’s conversation was condemned online. “Oh Matt quoted Andrew Tate… YIKES,” user @Hasandipity wrote.
“That wasn’t the worse thing to quote but the fact he quoted him in general makes me weary on what else he agrees with him on,” @FAN77BB added.
While perhaps not one of Tate’s most controversial thoughts, the fact that Klotz had an Andrew Tate quote on standby in his head is enough of a red flag for viewers.
On a Reddit discussion of the morning feed, some users were more defensive of Klotz’s comments. For example, Ready-Organization12 responded “Saw the matt clip and it seemed like he was more specifically a fan of the quote than he was the person who said it. I feel there’s enough room to give him benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.”
In response, other Redditors felt that Klotz having a Tate quote locked-and-loaded was enough of a red flag on its own.
“I’m always inclined to give the benefit of the doubt but going from ‘was it that one misogynistic guy? Ohhhhh wait no it was the other one who said this quote I really love’ and being familiar enough with a sex traffickers quotes that’s just like…… idk,” SlightlyAmbiguous wrote.
“I don’t really feel like you can have Andrew Tate quotes memorized unless you’re somehow super familiar with who Andrew Tate is. He clearly surrounds himself with that world online at the very least,” they continued.
“This is such a disingenuous read,” csmithsd wrote in response to Ready-Organization12’s comment. “Of course he’s a Tate supporter if he’s quoting the man as some sage,” they concluded.
“This is among a list of problematic things he’s done in regards to how he speaks of women,” user targaryind added, receiving 9 upvotes.
In Big Brother online discussions, it seems the majority of those involved in the discourse felt that Klotz using the quote was exemplary of his overall attitude toward women. Even the quote itself, while perhaps not screaming misogyny, has some undertones about men being superior in comparison to women in intellect and social abilities.
If you know someone suffering from sexual violence, contact RAINN or the National Sexual Abuse Telephone Hotline at 1-800-656-4673.
Published: Sep 13, 2023 03:06 pm