Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere may not feature Andrew Tate himself, but one of his most recognisable trademarks appears repeatedly throughout the documentary: a triangle-shaped hand gesture.
“A few years ago, I noticed that parts of the internet were being taken over by a collection of male influencers. They claimed to be giving young men the cheat codes to win at life… I became curious why some of them held such extreme beliefs,” Theroux says in the film’s opening minutes.
He’s referring to the “manosphere”: a loose online ecosystem of influencers who discuss men’s issues while frequently promoting misogyny, toxic masculinity, and reactionary politics.
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Andrew Tate has become its most famous face. While he never appears in person in Theroux’s documentary, his influence is felt throughout — including through a gesture used by several of the men featured in the film.
Is Andrew Tate in Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere?
No, Theroux never interviews Andrew Tate directly.
The documentary includes archival clips and references to him, but the controversial influencer does not participate in the project.
Theroux has spoken critically about Tate in the past. In one interview with Steven Bartlett, he described himself as the “anti-Tate”, criticising the influencer’s “ostentatious, troll-like” displays of wealth.
He also told GQ that while Tate is clearly an effective communicator, many of his ideas are “retrograde and misogynistic”.
Even without appearing in the film, Tate’s influence is unmistakable. Several of the men Theroux meets repeatedly form a distinctive hand gesture by interlocking their fingers while leaving their index fingers and thumbs extended to create a triangle shape.
At one point, Theroux asks two of the men what the symbol means — wondering if it might be connected to the concept of “the matrix”.
“We’re born to accept what society gives to you,” one of them explains. “What he promotes is that you have to refuse that, and accomplish your own goals.”
What is ‘the matrix’ in the manosphere?
Before understanding the gesture itself, it helps to understand the manosphere’s concept of “the matrix”.
The phrase is borrowed from the 1999 sci-fi film, where the protagonist must choose between the “red pill” and the “blue pill”. In online manosphere communities, being “red-pilled” means rejecting what they see as the lies of modern society.
For many influencers in that space, this worldview often includes beliefs that women are primarily motivated by money and status, and that men must reject mainstream social expectations in order to succeed.
The “matrix”, in this context, represents a broader conspiracy-like belief that society is structured to suppress ambitious men and maintain existing power structures.
Andrew Tate has frequently used the term himself. After being arrested in Romania in 2022, he tweeted: “The Matrix sent their agents.”
Ironically, many of the loudest voices promoting this idea are also enormously wealthy from selling courses, memberships, and content built around those same beliefs.
What does Andrew Tate’s hand gesture mean?
The triangular hand sign seen in the documentary is widely associated with Tate and his followers, although its origins are debated.
Some believe it derives from mudras — symbolic hand gestures used in yoga and meditation. The specific gesture resembles the Uttarabodhi mudra, which roughly translates to “awakening” or enlightenment.
Another explanation links it to Tate’s father, Emery Tate, a well-known American chess master. According to reports, he sometimes used a similar hand pose before matches as a kind of personal “power-up”.
Others have connected the symbol to Illuminati conspiracy theories, since the triangle shape resembles imagery commonly used in those myths about secret elites controlling the world. Tate himself has denied any connection.
Among critics, the gesture has taken on a darker meaning.
Researchers studying online extremism say it can function as a subtle signal of support for Tate and the wider manosphere ideology without explicitly stating it.
Tim Squirrel, an extremism researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, told VICE the appeal is partly about deniability.
“It allows people to show their endorsement of controversial beliefs without having to say it outright,” he explained.
But even when used ironically, he warned that the signal can still have consequences for those around it.
“For women and girls who are around it, that doesn’t really make much of a difference,” Squirrel said. “’Ironic’ endorsement of violent misogyny is often indistinguishable from the real thing.”
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Louis Theroux: Inside the Manosphere is available to stream on Netflix now.
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