Andrew Tate posted a “final message” to his followers on Vimeo Tuesday, saying that many of his comments, which have been widely criticized for being misogynistic, were “taken out of context.”
Tate’s video runs 1 hour and 13 minutes. It comes after Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube banned him for violating the platforms’ hate speech policies. He was previously banned from Twitter in 2017, after he tweeted that women should “bare some responsibility” for being sexually assaulted.
Once known as a professional kickboxer and struggling reality TV star, Tate has recently gone viral in large part due to his extreme statements: comparing women to property, graphically describing how he would assault a woman for accusing him of cheating, and claiming that men would rather date 18- and 19-year-olds over women in their mid-20s because the former have had sex with fewer men.
In the video, Tate said that he was a “victim” of his “own success.”
He didn’t address the YouTube or TikTok bans but he did say he wasn’t “mad” about his removal from Meta-owned platforms Instagram and Facebook.
However, he said he wished he had been issued a warning before the bans were enacted.
“I think it would have been better for them to say, ‘Andrew, some things have been taken out of context. You need to be careful that doesn’t happen. A lot of people listen to you,’ and I could have become a champion for women’s rights,” he said.
Tate said that viral clips of his viewpoints were taken out of context. He blamed short-form video platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels for only showing parts of his statements. He said that was “unfairly vilified.”
Tate also announced that he would take a break from the podcast he co-hosts with his brother, Tristan Tate.
He said he hopes to continue to “speak for men.”
“Me being alive on the internet will allow me to lead men in a very positive direction,” he said. “Banning me and deleting me leaves a black hole. It’s me or nobody.”
This story first appeared on NBCNews.com.