TikTok star Josh Richards compares Andrew Tate's comments to female creators' saying 'men are trash'
A clip of TikTok star Josh Richards comparing some of Andrew Tate's statements to some female creators' comments that "men are trash" has generated criticism online.
Tate, once known as a professional kickboxer and struggling reality TV star, has recently gone viral in large part because of 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. He was recently banned from Instagram, Facebook, TikTok and YouTube. Tate has denied allegations of misogyny and has said many of his comments were “taken out of context.”
On a recent episode of his "BFFs" podcast, Richards and co-host Dave Portnoy discussed Tate's ban from several social media platforms.
“I’m not trying to defend him or nothing," Richards said in the podcast episode, a clip of which has been widely shared online. "I’m just saying there’s definitely both sides. Like, there’s definitely female creators that are telling females ‘men are trash,’ and they’re OK to do that."
"Men are trash" is "a term often used on twitter and other social media platforms to describe men with poor behaviour, intentions or actions towards women," according to the Urban Dictionary.
Since video of the podcast episode was uploaded to YouTube on Aug. 24, it has gotten more than 300,000 views. But the clip of Richards’ comment has recirculated on TikTok, Twitter and Instagram.
Some online are calling out Richards, who recently had Tate on as a guest on the "BFFs" podcast in an episode titled “Andrew Tate and Dave Portnoy go toe to toe.”
"josh richards defending andrew tate is [skull face emoji]," a person tweeted.
Another person wrote in a popular Instagram post of the clip: “sure he can have an opinion. but the opinion is wrong.”
"Josh Richards basically defending Andrew Tate is a solid reason why people should do more research before speaking on things they barely know anything about," another Twitter user wrote.
Richards, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, rose to fame in TikTok videos lip-syncing, dancing and participating in trends.
He boasts more than 25 million TikTok followers, 6.8 million followers on Instagram, 2.2 million subscribers on YouTube and 2 million followers on Twitter.
