How my brother went from liberal Hollywood actor to manosphere 'messiah'

Warning: This communicative contains violative language

Ten years agone Luis Castilleja was a free-wheeling creative, seeking his luck arsenic an histrion successful Hollywood, and enjoying the wide Los Angeles lifestyle. Now helium is amended known arsenic El Temach, Latin America's biggest manosphere influencer, whose misogynistic and hyper-masculine contented has gained him much than 11 cardinal societal media followers.

His sister Alex says his translation is shocking and they nary longer speak.

"I don't similar saying El Temach due to the fact that for maine he's a wholly antithetic person. So I'm sister with the quality that helium was," she says.

Alex, a plan technologist from Mexico, says her brother's metamorphosis shows however adjacent the astir improbable radical tin beryllium tempted into making manosphere content, erstwhile they realise the wealth and fame to beryllium made.

The interaction of Western influencers specified arsenic Andrew Tate has been good documented. But a BBC World Service probe has scrutinised the contented and followings of 15 different influencers - based successful South and East Asia, Latin America and Africa - and recovered that, connected average, their followings person tripled successful the past 3 years. These regions person seen comparatively caller gains successful sex equality, and experts accidental this situation is fuelling men's hunger for manosphere content.

As good arsenic El Temach, our probe besides focused connected Andrew Kibe - a household sanction successful Kenya who promotes antheral self-empowerment and misogyny connected societal media. Both person repeatedly attacked azygous mothers, and regularly impeach women of being "gold diggers" who manipulate men.

Both influencers, we found, are earning ample sums of wealth from their platforms.

El Temach and Kibe some powerfully contradict their contented is misogynistic, with Kibe - successful an interrogation with the BBC - adjacent disputing the beingness of the concept.

We wanted to spot the interaction this contented has connected consumers. Two Gen Z followers - 1 successful Kenya and 1 successful Mexico - gave the BBC uncensored entree to respective years of their societal media activity, allowing america to spot thousands of their posts, views, likes, comments and shares.

The information reveals their idiosyncratic journeys into the manosphere.

Mexican Julián archetypal started utilizing Instagram aged 16, liking and commenting connected contented astir cars, fittingness and self-development. His past shows that helium archetypal liked a video from El Temach a fewer months later, aft it appeared successful his recommended feeds.

Now 19, helium has truthful acold liked much than 3,000 videos from dozens of manosphere creators. Julián told the BBC helium felt "feminism has made men's problems invisible".

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That sentiment is simply a cardinal tenet of El Temach's messaging - but helium did not ever clasp these views, according to his sister Alex.

He grew up wanting to beryllium a performer, she says, and aft studying theatre successful Mexico City, moved to LA to prosecute his imagination of becoming an actor.

But helium returned location a mates of years later, she says, aft a break-up and nonaccomplishment to publication regular work. These setbacks motivated him to assistance different young men navigate hard experiences, she says, and helium began successful 2020 to station contented focused connected antheral self-development.

"I deliberation astatine the opening it was precise noble however helium wanted to assistance different men to consciousness worthy and valuable, and that's however helium started," Alex says.

But this rapidly "twisted" into thing else. "He got this Messiah complex, similar he's the 1 that has to hole [men's issues]," she tells us.

And she says helium soon began to blasted women for the difficulties his antheral followers were navigating. She is not definite however acold her member really believes the misogyny helium espouses - and however overmuch is conscionable for societal media likes and views.

"He believes immoderate things - and others, he's conscionable experimenting what works champion with the algorithm."

Her member admitted helium was simply copying Andrew Tate, says Alex. "Tate was ace large astatine that time, [and] since helium saw it worked helium conscionable started pushing [his argument] further and further."

She says her brother's contented soon became mirrored successful his behaviour towards her.

"Anything I would express… was taken similar a feminist belief… an affront to his persona."

The BBC asked El Temach to instrumentality portion successful our documentary. He initially agreed to talk to us, inviting america to movie his satellite circuit which began successful the US, but conscionable days earlier we were owed to alert out, helium went unrecorded connected YouTube telling his followers helium had nary volition of participating.

"BBC and Miss Jacqui from the BBC, we don't request your support to beryllium men. Make your documentary, don't impact maine oregon my bros. [Expletive] the BBC."

We nevertheless went to his amusement successful Las Vegas, which was a substance of self-improvement proposal and sexist rhetoric, including advising his fans to debar "sluts" due to the fact that they volition ne'er change, and that azygous mothers are "not a bully catch" due to the fact that their presumption reflects mediocre beingness decisions and quality flaws.

Afterwards, we tried to face him astir these statements, but his information blocked our way.

El Temach's net from content, including these shows, is sizeable. According to our analysis, from April 2025-26 El Temach made an estimated $1.5m (£1.1m) from societal media views alone. He besides made $200,000-300,000 (£149,000-£223,211) from YouTube "Super Chats" - successful which fans wage to boost the prominence of their comments during livestreams, often asking for narration proposal - arsenic good arsenic $800 (£595) per idiosyncratic for small-group workshops. This is successful summation to the wealth helium made from merchandise and his regular signifier shows.

His squad told america they see it "highly irresponsible to people the estimated income of El Temach".

Kibe besides monetises his popularity, selling merchandise and adjacent a crypto coin. He told the BBC: "If anybody is truly my fan, the lone happening I archer them is marque definite you nonstop maine M-Pesa [money via a Kenyan app]."

One radical of men we spoke to extracurricular El Temach's Las Vegas amusement told america what they liked astir his contented - that helium encourages discipline, inspires them to find self-confidence, and acknowledges their problems.

"He focuses a batch connected men arsenic having been dismissed by society, and [the communicative that] women have, you know, been the stars of the show," says Dr Ali Siles, sex and masculinities researcher astatine the National Autonomous University of Mexico.

"He has this connection of: 'You bash matter, judge successful yourself.'"

And this is what instrumentality Julián says helium likes astir the influencer too. "The teaching that impacted maine the astir was astir feeling confident."

Kenyan assemblage pupil Ryan, who follows the videos of Andrew Kibe, says arsenic a young antheral raised by a azygous mother, helium views the influencer arsenic a surrogate begetter figure.

Using analytical tools developed by the University of Queensland, we recovered Ryan had watched videos connected TikTok from Kibe - whose hashtag has attracted much than 500 cardinal views - aft searching for presumption specified arsenic "success", "self-improvement" and "masculinity tips with nary father".

But Siles says manosphere contented tends to travel "at the disbursal of" women and different sex identities.

"It's precise harmful to women's rights and development, due to the fact that it's besides trying to enactment them backmost successful places a batch of them person been trying to get retired of, with constricted choices, with precise stereotypical roles."

Julián's societal media past shows however specified messaging, successful his lawsuit from El Temach, soon becomes mirrored by followers.

When Julián broke up with a woman successful precocious 2023, his interactions with manosphere contented spiked and helium began referring to women arsenic "sluts" successful his online comments, and praising subservience. "If you're a feminine and submissive woman, past perfect," helium wrote successful 1 post.

Julián says helium regrets the code of his past Instagram comments, but stands by their content.

Many of Julián's procreation judge that feminism has travel astatine the outgo of men's rights, according to a recent planetary survey of 23,000 men and women by King's College London. More than fractional of Gen Z men - immoderate 57% - agreed with the statement: "We person gone truthful acold successful promoting women's equality that we are discriminating against men."

It's a content that manosphere influencers are tapping into. According to these influencers, "women are the problem," says Awino Okech, astatine The School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) successful London.

Their belief, says the prof of feminist and information studies, is "it's this sex equality happening that is starring to boys underperforming… It's sex equality that is starring to intelligence problems for men and boys."

These misleading narratives tin person a real-world impact, we found.

Fernanda, a doc from Mexico City, says her ex-partner, besides a doctor, utilized El Temach's messaging to warrant his controlling behaviour.

On what was to go the time they divided up, she says helium locked her successful a country and forced her to ticker videos made by El Temach for 4 hours.

"He kept saying: 'See? I'm not doing thing wrong… You're the 1 who's wrong.'"

She told america the concern that time escalated to the constituent wherever helium threatened to termination her.

"His eyes were empty, helium was acting purely connected impulse. In that moment, I was truly precise acrophobic of what mightiness hap to me."

Though she does not blasted El Temach straight for her experience, Fernanda does judge this benignant of contented has an effect connected relationships successful the existent world.

"I deliberation [my erstwhile partner] was already a sexist who was hiding it. But El Temach influenced him to nary longer consciousness atrocious astir it."

Alex, El Temach's sister, thinks her member is successful denial astir the antagonistic interaction of his content.

"I deliberation helium knows what he's doing connected immoderate level. I deliberation that helium sees and realises that if helium ever owns up to what helium did, it'll destruct him."

She feels helium has drifted from the way helium was destined to follow, "into this weird dystopic hellhole and he's conscionable this... unit robot".

The BBC asked El Temach to respond to our allegations that helium promotes misogynistic content. His squad responded to accidental they "categorically rejected the allegations and that they were unfounded and taken retired of context".

Kibe, erstwhile challenged connected his misogynistic content, denied this word applied to him and said: "No antheral hates a woman. We emotion you - we are similar gods to you, worship us."