Andrew Tate claims ‘Top G’ persona is ‘social media hyperbole’

Andrew Tate has spent years telling millions of followers he is “Top G,” a fabulously wealthy alpha male with Bugattis, private jets and an unshakable philosophy about how men and women should behave. On Thursday, fighting to get out of a Miami federal jail, Tate acknowledged something his brother and a longtime romantic partner had already told the court: A lot of it isn’t real.

“I do not own a Bugatti,” Tate testified during a hearing over whether he and his brother, Tristan, should be released while fighting extradition to the United Kingdom. No yacht, he said. No private jet. He’s not a billionaire.

“This is social media hyperbole.”

Tate’s testimony capped hours of arguments in which the brothers’ defense sought to separate the men from the deliberately provocative characters they have built online, while federal prosecutors pointed to women in Romania, the U.K. and the United States who have accused them of rape, choking and other violence.

“I’ve never committed any of the crimes I’m accused of,” Tate told the court.

‘Top G’ takes the stand

Tate told the court he trusts the American judicial system and had planned, before his July arrest, to resolve his cases in Palm Beach and Romania before traveling to the U.K. to face the charges there.

“I believed in innocent until proven guilty,” he said.

His current confinement, Tate argued, is preventing him from doing that. He said restricted housing has made it hard to communicate with his Romanian legal team or meaningfully participate in litigation.

“I believe men should suffer as gracefully as possible,” Tate said, but added: “I just need to take part in my cases.”

He described himself as frustrated by years of trying to rebut allegations against him. “We keep screaming into the void,” Tate said. “No one listens to us.”

Tate also confronted the persona that made him famous. “I’ve said a lot of stupid things about a lot of people,” he testified, adding that “the people I insult most are men.”

He said “Top G” was partly inspired by Sacha Baron Cohen’s satirical character Ali G and was designed to grab attention in an internet economy that rewards outrageous behavior.

“On the internet you have to shake people out of apathy,” Tate said. “You can’t sit there and be clean-cut.”

Top G, Tate said, was supposed to represent an impossibly strong and successful man who could motivate other men. Now, he said, he lies in bed wondering how the character he created a decade ago contributed to his confinement.

Tate said he “shut up the day the Romanians arrested me.”

He also addressed a widely circulated video showing him striking a woman with a belt. Tate characterized the video as private, consensual role play with a former girlfriend and said the woman has subsequently posted videos denying that she was abused.

“The victims are my brother and I,” Tate said, arguing that governments have seized their assets and destroyed their reputations.

Federal prosecutors pushed back. They pointed to women across multiple countries who have accused Tate of choking and raping them.

“If I lose a fair fight, I can take it,” Tate testified. “But I don’t want to get stabbed in the back. I don’t want to die that way.”

His partner: ‘It’s not real life’

Natasha Sesay, a British national who testified for the defense, offered a similar distinction between Tate’s internet character and the man she says she has known for more than five years.

“Top G is Andrew’s alter ego,” Sesay said. “It’s a character that he portrays online. He says some provocative things. It’s how he makes money and a very different character than the one I know personally.” Sesay described Tate as calm, thoughtful and caring. She said he has never been violent toward her or their child.

“I’m treated very well by Andrew at home,” she said.

She acknowledged challenging Tate over comments he makes online.

“Half of what I see online, I just wave it away,” she said. “It’s not real life.”

Federal prosecutor Abbie Waxman pressed Sesay about her modeling work and her financial relationship with Tate, including luxury bags, shoes, and jewelry he provided to her. Sesay denied producing sexual content for Tate.

Waxman also confronted her about Tate’s rhetoric toward women, asking at one point: “Do you think it’s funny to promote violence against women?” Sesay dodged the question.

Sesay testified that British police raided her home and arrested her in February 2024 on suspicion of offenses including prostitution, money laundering, tax evasion and modern slavery. She said she currently faces no charges.

“It was frankly offensive,” she said. “The things they were accusing me of were absolutely impossible.”

Tristan Tate describes ‘torture’

Tristan Tate also took the stand. He described his detention as “physical and psychological torture,” as he spends most of his time in a roughly 6-foot-by-11-foot cell with a bunk bed and a toilet. Ants and roaches are his company in the sweltering cell, he said.

“I cannot partake in anything at all besides staring at the wall and counting the days as they go by,” Tristan testified.

He said he has dropped from about 245 pounds to 231 pounds since his arrest. Although he receives three meals a day, Tristan said he has had access to commissary only twice and has rationed his snacks, including Twix bars.

He also described struggling to breathe after guards used chemical spray on a detainee about 10 feet away. Tristan said he soaked a T-shirt in water and wrapped it around his face but received no medical attention.

Prosecutors noted that Tristan receives three meals, has commissary access and a radio, and leaves his cell to meet with attorneys.

Like his brother, Tristan said their online personas shouldn’t be taken literally. “Top G is if you take 5% of my brother’s personality and give him steroids and project it online,” he said. He describing the character as “flamboyant, outlandish, sometimes crude comedy” engineered to go viral.

“I don’t agree with everything I say online,” Tristan added. “It’s hyperbolic and it’s comedy.”

Waxman tested that explanation against Tristan’s own social media claims, including posts about purchasing a Bugatti and a yacht that would purportedly take 19 months to build.

She asked whether Tristan lies for a living.

Tristan compared what he does to an actor or rapper playing a character. A fake passport bearing the name “Vladimir Scorpious,” he said, referenced “a fictional supervillain from one of my favorite books.”

‘Not me avoiding England’

Both brothers argued that release would allow them to fight, rather than flee, the cases against them.

“This extradition hearing is not me avoiding England,” Tristan testified. “It’s me trying to get to Romania and Palm Beach to clear my name.” Tristan said he has spent roughly three-and-a-half years fighting the Romanian case and faces up to 20 years in prison there.

“I am eager to destroy the allegations against me,” he said.

Romanian authorities have seized roughly $15 million in assets belonging to the brothers, according to testimony. Andrew said asset seizures have forced him to continue earning money, including through fighting. He testified that he no longer owns his online education platform, formerly known as Hustlers University and now called The Real World, but is paid to post there.

The brothers’ attorneys argued that their ongoing cooperation in other legal proceedings constitutes special circumstances that should support their release on bond.

Andrew characterized the international proceedings against him more starkly.

“This is the most political case in history,” he said.

But the central contradiction running through Thursday’s testimony was one the Tates themselves helped create. For years, they made money convincing followers that their outrageous online lives were real. Now, with their freedom at stake, both brothers are asking a federal judge not to believe everything she sees on the internet.