‘the Manosphere Is Dead And No One Cares About Andrew Tate Any More’: The Poet Taking On Toxic Masculinity

On a acold nighttime successful eastbound London, 21-year-old capacity writer Sam Browne is telling a packed room of strangers astir his 2nd bout of psychosis. “I was successful Morocco astatine 18, wholly alone, and I started to consciousness that things weren’t real,” he says. “It sewage truthful bad that 1 time I turned to a random personification and told him I was reasoning of sidesplitting myself. He conscionable said backmost to me: ‘Don’t do that – you’ll miss nan sunset.’”

The room falls quiet and Browne breaks nan hostility by launching into a poem inspired by his Moroccan breakdown, You’ll Miss nan Sunset. “The world is truthful beautiful, nan slightest you could do is instrumentality astir to watch it,” he says pinch nan hint of a smirk. “But it’s each shit, each of it, isn’t it?”

The crowd of mostly young men and women laughter arsenic Browne gallops done nan remainder of his set, tackling everything from intersexual battle to accidental overdoses and antheral loneliness. Talking successful plain position and swearwords much than lofty metaphor, he is simply a writer pinch a mission, he says: to alteration nan measurement men spot themselves and support each other.

“We request to connection up an replacement masculinity from nan 1 that boys person been trained to live,” he says. “If 1 measurement that tin hap is done poetry, I’m very happy to lead this movement.”

It mightiness look for illustration a gangly bid but Browne’s blend of sadistic honesty and droll study has made him a viral sensation. Counting complete 160,000 followers connected Instagram, and pinch videos of his performances regularly attracting millions of views connected societal media, Browne has turned his teenage experiences into energetic capacity poems that purpose to skewer our perceptions of intelligence wellness and masculinity. It is only 18 months since he began regularly performing astatine unfastened mic nights, but he has already discontinue his occupation arsenic a school adjunct to circuit nan state and execute afloat time. On nan look of it, he is surviving nan dream. But it has travel astatine a price.

“I’ve had decease threats, group calling maine slurs online and moreover Andrew Tate posting a meme of me connected his X account,” Browne says nan time aft his performance, erstwhile we meet successful a quiet area of nan National Theatre successful London. “I person a love-hate narration pinch societal media because you don’t cognize what you’re going to get erstwhile you unfastened your messages. We’ve created an situation wherever group tin unrecorded connected their phones and disregard nan world. Men tin find elemental scapegoats for their problems, and they tin debar what really needs to change. But what I’m trying to do is to usage societal media to unit them to consciousness thing earthy and honorable – it’s a confrontation wherever they slightest expect it.”

It’s a maneuver that first gained traction successful February 2025 erstwhile Browne released a video of his poem Silly Billy and quickly gained much than 15m views. Weaving together statistic connected intersexual unit pinch nostalgia-inducing tales of schoolhouse mischief, Browne’s two-minute poem concludes pinch an anecdote astir a character, Billy, who assaults a woman astatine a party. One refrain successful peculiar caused nan poem to spell viral: “Billys aren’t evil, they’re failures of a strategy / A misguided shape of discipline.”

‘For each decease threat, I would get acold much group messaging maine to opportunity my activity had changed their perspective.’ Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

“I wrote it erstwhile I realised really prevalent intersexual battle is,” Browne says. “I said to my female friends and recovered retired it’s thing that has happened to almost each woman. I was conscionable ashamed that I had to really spot their symptom to understand nan grade of it, and nan poem was trying to find a different measurement to get that connection across. Rather than conscionable singling retired a perpetrator arsenic a rotten apple, it’s really a rotten system.”

The poem soon reached far-right circles, causing Tate, a starring proponent of nan manosphere pinch 11 cardinal followers, to mock it successful a now-deleted station connected his X account. The backlash was truthful terrible Browne thought he mightiness beryllium entering psychosis erstwhile again. “I was receiving absurd levels of dislike and dissociating. It sewage really bad,” he says. “But for each decease threat, I would get acold much group messaging maine to opportunity my activity had changed their perspective. Although nan acquisition was awful, they were watching and nan poem was cutting through.”

Browne whitethorn not fresh astir people’s image of a master writer – but he didn’t turn up knowing what 1 should look like. He had ne'er publication aliases engaged pinch poesy earnestly until 2025, and nan past book he vanished was Navy Seal David Goggins’ motivational bestseller Can’t Hurt Me, erstwhile he was 15.

“I wrote a mates of poems conscionable retired of curiosity erstwhile I was 14 but I didn’t want anyone to spot them arsenic I thought group would telephone maine gay,” says Browne, who grew up successful Southend successful Essex and near schoolhouse astatine 18. “Andrew Tate started getting celebrated erstwhile I was 17 but we each believed what he was saying earlier he said it. I became obsessed pinch nan thought of being a man done getting ripped and making money – we each request purpose, particularly astatine that age, and it fed into that. I didn’t dislike women but location were elements [of that mindset] I believed in.”

Raised by his mother, who useful arsenic a connection teacher, and father, a communications consultant, Browne describes spending his schoolhouse years masquerading arsenic a different person. “I grew up successful Love Island country. It’s a look-obsessed culture, a geezer town, and I grew up arsenic a ‘lad’,” he says. “I would walk astir of my clip astatine nan pub talking astir shot and women, but it wasn’t who I really was. I realise successful hindsight that my queerness was trying to get out.” He now identifies arsenic bisexual.

He was 13 erstwhile he smoked weed for nan first time, and he traces his intelligence wellness problems backmost to overuse of nan drug. “I retrieve getting very drunk and precocious erstwhile I was 15 and emotion thing threat successful my brain. I wasn’t nan aforesaid again for years aft that,” he says. “I was depressed, connected antidepressants and ADHD medication, and astatine 17 I developed this irrational fearfulness of sleep. It felt arsenic if I would dice if I went to sleep, since it seemed for illustration reality only existed while I was awake. That was my first section of psychosis – it felt for illustration nan world was moving excessively slow and I was going to explode.”

Thankfully, Browne sought thief from his parents, attended NHS therapy and discontinue drugs. He turned his attraction to standup arsenic a measurement to transmission his emotions and began travelling to London to execute astatine unfastened mic nights.

On shape successful dingy pub basements, though, he struggled to find a consciousness of community. “Most of nan clip successful standup a bully information of nan assemblage wants you to beryllium bad truthful they tin outcry crap astatine you,” he says. “They want to spot you struggle. And I would do gigs wherever I could, including 1 wherever 2 fights collapsed retired while I was connected stage, moreover though location were only 8 group successful nan audience. It’s crazy to deliberation I went done each that erstwhile I was a teenager.”

By August 2025 Browne had discontinue his occupation and was spending his weeks rehearsing and performing. Photograph: Linda Nylind/The Guardian

After leaving school, he decided to recreation astir Australia and south-east Asia, school English arsenic a overseas connection online. It was during his clip overseas that he had an awakening: he discovered his sexuality, recovered poesy erstwhile much and yet relinquished his teen lad culture.

“I gradually realised that each of that manosphere worldly was conscionable a grift – they were only retired to make money and they didn’t person immoderate solutions. I ended up successful Indonesia instead, surrounded by free-spirited group who encouraged maine to definitive myself,” he says. “I wrote 3 poems location conscionable astir my life and experiences to date, and while I didn’t really do thing pinch them, it collapsed nan seal.”

His intelligence wellness remained a challenge, resulting successful different psychotic section while he was successful Morocco – nan 1 he refers to successful his sunset poem. After returning from his travels and moving backmost successful pinch his parents, he describes falling into “a pit of depression”. It wasn’t until he decided to move successful pinch his 96-year-old grandma successful London successful 2024 that things took a move for nan better.

He began taking poesy much earnestly and attending arsenic galore unfastened mic nights arsenic he could. He publication activity by writers specified arsenic Wendy Cope, Matthew Dickman and David Berman, uncovering a saccharine spot successful poesy that was accessible to readers but still contained a message. By January 2025, videos of his energetic performances were opening to find an assemblage online and he started booking his ain shows.

How does he consciousness astir having truthful galore of his individual struggles disposable for nationalist consumption? “People cognize a batch astir a very circumstantial portion of maine and I’m comfortable pinch talking astir my intelligence wellness because everyone has it,” he says. “It’s susceptible but it seems worthy it since a poet’s occupation is to beryllium honest. We request group speaking astir nan disfigured realities of intelligence health.”

He believes this extremist honesty is nan only measurement that boys and young men tin beryllium led distant from damaging domiciled models specified arsenic Tate. “You can’t reside it head-on and show a 14-year-old boy what to do – they’ll conscionable laughter astatine you,” he says. “You person to show them there’s different measurement to beryllium a man. They’re only 1 bully domiciled exemplary aliases PSHE [personal, social, wellness and economical education] instruction distant from changing their worldview, but arsenic they tin beryllium easy swayed different way. We person to beryllium susceptible and show them it’s OK to talk to each different openly.”

Aside from nan occasional online pile-on, Browne believes his poems and videos are making a difference. “I get truthful galore messages from group reasoning they were going to return their ain life and past they would spot a video of excavation astatine 2am and it stopped them,” he says. “Growing up I didn’t deliberation nan building ‘You saved my life’ would beryllium said to maine arsenic often arsenic it is, but I do it for myself, too, arsenic it saved me.”

‘We person to beryllium vulnerable.’ Photograph: Courtesy of Samuel Browne

What adjacent for Sam Browne? “I’m moving connected a book, arsenic good arsenic hopefully immoderate longer-form video contented connected YouTube and possibly a podcast,” he says. “The manosphere is dormant and nary 1 cares astir Tate immoderate more. Now it’s pseudo-intellectuals and right-wing commentators connected podcasts espousing nan aforesaid connection successful a different form, and it will spell connected to displacement again. We request to support changing pinch it because if we edifice to conscionable name-calling, we’ll only push them further down nan rabbit hole.”

He feels his intelligence wellness is stable. He nary longer speaks to his puerility friends from home, attends therapy erstwhile he needs to and has recovered a caller organization successful poetry. “Poetry accepts everybody, particularly those who’ve spent their lives emotion outcast. It’s a spot they will beryllium heard,” he says. “I genuinely judge I’ll beryllium OK now – I conscionable want each poem to beryllium a logic for personification reference aliases listening to enactment alive.”

Sam Browne and Friends runs each 2 months astatine 93 Feet East, London. The adjacent show is connected 23 April. He is besides touring nan UK pinch his show The Manosphere and Other Fun Shapes