Apex Legends players are getting banned for talking about Andrew Tate

An Apex Legends player recently received a temporary suspension for calling out “Andrew Tate cringe” in the game’s text chat.

Former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate became the subject of much scrutiny throughout the year due to his controversial, misogynistic opinions on women.

In recent months, several social media platforms – Instagram and TikTok included – have banned Tate, with a TikTok representative telling NPR the service wouldn’t tolerate the influencer’s “hateful ideology.”

Tate is far from the only person that social platforms are willing to kick because of his contentious views. Those who openly support him haven’t fared much better in some cases.

Apex Legends fan suspended for mentioning Andrew Tate in chat

Redditor onyi_time recently played a game of Apex with users who were regurgitating Andrew Tate’s talking points. The Reddit user responded in the text chat with the following comment, “Andrew Tate cringe.”

As a result, “I got banned for a week,” onyi_time wrote on Reddit. A screenshot of the suspension message from Electronic Arts notes that such behavior is considered “Hateful Conduct.” The player contested the decision, only for it to be deemed final upon review.

Do you think this ban is fair? Teammates were discussing Andrew Tate, saying “women belong in the kitchen”, I respond with this in text chat before muting both of them. I got banned for a week. I can understand if I said something worse, but this? Tried disputing it & they said it was correct :
byu/onyi_time inapexlegends

Though the comment featured no hateful text, several others noted that typing “Andrew Tate” in the chat is “apparently bannable.”

“Andrew Tate seems to be a blacklisted word for EA,” someone else said. Still, many people agreed the weeklong ban constitutes an excessive punishment given the context.

This isn’t the first time the contentious influencer has sat at the forefront of Apex Legends-related bans. Just a few months ago, Apex Legends players were suspended for naming themselves Andrew Tate. This could explain the blanket ban tactics leveled against the recently suspended Redditor.