Sam Fender has opened up about why he believes some young British men are being “seduced” by figures like Andrew Tate, whom he referred to as a “demagogue.”
The singer, who released his third album People Watching this month, expressed concern over Tate’s appeal among young men from low-income backgrounds.
Fender suggested that this influence stems from a wider societal failure to address class issues in the UK, noting that public discourse tends to focus more on privilege and race than on economic inequality.
Speaking to the Sunday Times earlier this year, Fender explained why he believes young, white men are “seduced by demagogues like Andrew Tate.”
He told the publication: “We are very good at talking about privileges – white, male or straight privilege. We rarely talk about class, though. And that’s a lot of the reason that all the young lads are seduced by demagogues like Andrew Tate.
“They’re being shamed all the time and made to feel like they’re a problem. It’s this narrative being told to white boys from nowhere towns. People preach to some kid in a pit town in Durham who’s got fuck all and tell him he’s privileged? Then Tate tells him he’s worth something? It’s seductive.”
Tate is a self-declared misogynist, who has more than 10 million followers online, an audience made up largely of young, impressionable men. He is currently facing multiple criminal charges in Romania, including rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit women. He denies all the charges against him.
In May, UK prosecutors authorised 21 charges against the Tate brothers, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking.
Related: Steve Coogan blasts ‘toxic’ male figures like Andrew Tate