Tucker Carlson’s Defense of Andrew Tate Resurfaces After Influencer’s Arrest in Sex Trafficking, Rape Case

Clips of Tucker Carlson defending Andrew Tate have resurfaced after the kickboxer turned controversial internet personality was detained in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking, rape, and organized crime.

Prosecutors said Tate, his brother and two other suspects, “appear to have created an organized crime group with the purpose of recruiting, housing and exploiting women by forcing them to create pornographic content meant to be seen on specialized websites for a cost.”

According to Reuters, prosecutors said they have six women who were sexually exploited by the suspects, and requested a Romanian court to extend their detention by 30 days.

One victim, prosecutors said, was raped twice.

The Tate brothers have been under criminal investigation since April when their home was first raided by police.

In the months that followed, Tate — who achieved notoriety online for his misogynistic commentary and support for former President Donald Trump — was banned from a slew of social media platforms.

As a result, he received gushing coverage from conservative media, including a lengthy interview in August with Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

In commentary that resurfaced on Twitter following Tate’s arrest, Carlson defended the influencer against criticism.

“Lots of mean things are being written about Andrew Tate but we have learned over time to trust our own experience,” the Fox host said. “Don’t believe what you hear, go straight to the source.”

During their interview, Carlson said he was “skeptical” of the human trafficking allegations against Tate, arguing they were similar to the charges made against Julian Assange.

“Why don’t they want you to hear from Andrew Tate?” Carlson said. “Do they really think that he’s a worse influence on the youth than, say, Cardi B? Tell us how.”

“They’re telling us he’s a criminal,” Carlson added. “Okay. Has he been charged? Who are the victims? What are their names?”

Romanian prosecutors have not released the names of the six women they say were sexually exploited by Tate and the other suspects.

Despite Carlson’s skepticism of the allegations against Tate, earlier this year the internet personality described on his own website a scheme that sounds remarkably close to what prosecutors accuse him of.

In a page that has since been deleted, Tate wrote that he became “rich” by recruiting women for a webcam porn business he has run for “nearly a decade.”

“I’ve had over 75 girls work for me, and my business model is different than 99% of webcam studio owners,” he wrote. “Over 50% of my employees were actually my girlfriend at the time and, of all my girlfriends, NONE were in the adult entertainment industry before they met me.”

Tate added that his “job” was to “meet a girl, go on a few dates, sleep with her, test if she’s quality, get her to fall in love with me to where she’d do anything I say, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together. Whether you agree or disagree with what I did with their loyalty, submission, and love for me doesn’t matter.”

“I learned the most time efficient way to meet girls, get them through the dating process, get them to bed, test if they’re a good girl or not, and begin the process of them falling deeper and deeper into love,” he said.

None of this is new information, by the way. The Daily Beast catalogued a snippet of Tate’s “ugly side” back in April when his home was raided:

But Tate’s treatment of women had an ugly side. In 2016, he was booted off the British version of Big Brother over a video of him hitting a woman with a belt. This March, Britain’s Daily Mirror tabloid profiled him and his brother Tristan Tate and their Romania-based business which used webcam models to trick men into sending the brothers tens of thousands of dollars. In one video on his YouTube channel, Andrew Tate said “40 percent” of the reason he moved to Romania was because Romanian police were less likely to pursue sexual assault allegations.

Carlson ended his lengthy interview with Tate by expressing concern about social media platforms banning his accounts.

“I’ll say this,” Carlson said. “No sin you’ve committed is half as threatening as what they just did to you.”