If Andrew Tate could have foreseen the enduring meme that would emerge from a since-deleted, 11-minute YouTube video, he probably would have kept a straight face.
The Andrew Tate shocked face meme, sometimes referred to as the Andrew Tate Soyjak meme, is frequently used to mock Tate or attempt to emasculate him.
Where did the Andrew Tate meme come from?
The infamous image of the right-wing influencer originated from a Business Insider article published in August 2022, a reverse image search shows.
Two Business Insider articles published within one day of each other—the first about how Tate’s TikTok stardom fueled “violent misogyny and men’s rights extremism,” and the second about him being banned by Meta—both used the now-iconic image.
According to the image credit from Business Insider, the photo was a screenshot from a since-deleted YouTube video from Tate about why most people will never be rich.
However, the original video has been reuploaded by other users, and the moment can be seen near the 2:37 mark of the video below
“Crisis and opportunity are the same thing,” Tate argued. “In fact, in Japanese they have the same word. Now, what most of you people are doing is you’re going through your life, you’re seeing a crisis. You’re seeing the world get destroyed. You’re seeing corona, you’re seeing the American election be stolen. You’re seeing all these bad things happen, and you do not identify any opportunity in these circumstances.”
“You sit there and think, ‘Oh well, do, do, do, the world does what it does and I’ll keep doing my job. I’ll keep working at Starbucks. And maybe one day when my ship comes in, I’ll make some money,’” Tate continued while jokingly making the expression that would become memeified. “Never. That’s never going to happen.”
Since its first publication by Business Insider, the image has since been used for both light-hearted mockery and serious criticism of Tate.
Tate, a former professional kickboxer, carved out a name for himself with his commentary promoting what some describe as “toxic masculinity.” He is a self-described misogynist whose mainstream platform came crashing down in August 2022 when he was banned from YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook for his commentary,
“Internet sensationalism has purported the idea that I’m anti-women when nothing could be further from the truth,” Tate said in response to the bans, adding that some of his remarks were intended to be comedic and were taken out of context.
One Reddit user who helped fuel the meme’s popularity posted an image of the Business Insider article and joked in the “rare insults” subreddit, “spoon pretends to be human,” with users noting his similarities to a wooden spoon given with ice cream.
“Wooden gelato spoon that makes 5 million a month more than I do,” said one poster.
It’s also been dubbed Sojack Tate.
Soyjak is a whole brand of meme, spun off of the infamous Wojak meme, that depicts a lack of traditional masculinity.
“Andrew Tate when he goes Wojak mode,” joked one X user along with the image.
But the meme has also been used to react to news of Tate being charged with rape and sex trafficking in Romania last year. Tate has denied the allegations and claimed the charges are part of a conspiracy designed to silence him. No trial dates have been set yet, according to the Associated Press.
“Andrew Tate is surprised,” one X user wrote in response to a post about the charges, using a Wojak-styled caricature of the photo.
A separate person even claimed Tate blocked him due to him posting the above image jokingly as a “court sketch.”
“Andrew Tate blocked me for posting this ‘court sketch’ of him,” the user wrote.
Which makes sense, given Tate’s obsession with his own masculinity. But if he can be so owned by a mere pic of his eyes bugging out, it begs the question, where else is Tate lacking in the self-confidence he so often projects?
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