Guy Fieri sets the record straight.
the Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives The host faced backlash after a video of him welcoming controversial influencer brothers, Andrew and Tristan Tate, to UFC 327 in Miami on Saturday night went viral.
In the footage, Fieri is seen shaking hands with the brothers, pulling Andrew onto his shoulder and speaking briefly. However, the Food Network star said the interaction was simply that he was being polite and that he didn’t know who they were at the time.
“I see all your comments about the photo from Saturday’s UFC event and all I can say is I’m devastated,” Fieri wrote on X on Tuesday. “I was there to watch the fights and as I was walking in, the Tate brothers stood up and saluted, and that’s when the exchange happened.”
He continued: “I did not know them or about them before that moment. I will never pretend to be a perfect person but let me be completely clear, I do not know the Tate brothers and I do not support them in any way.”
Andrew and Tristan Tate are former kickboxers who have built a large following online by sharing hypermasculine and misogynistic content. Andrew Tate first came to prominence on a reality show in the UK Big brother in 2016 but was removed just six days after footage emerged showing him attacking a woman.
The brothers, who were born in the US but moved to the UK as children, have dual citizenship. They are subject to criminal investigations in Britain and Romania. In the United States, they have been under investigation by anti-human trafficking agents at the Department of Homeland Security and federal prosecutors since 2023, according to New York Times.
They are charged with 21 crimes in the UK, including rape, actual bodily harm and human trafficking. Reuters recently reported that a Romanian court has lifted all preventive judicial oversight measures as investigations continue. The brothers denied any wrongdoing.
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