American-British online influencer Andrew Tate, known for his displays of wealth and misogynistic views and facing criminal accusations of sexual misconduct, has given an exclusive interview to Turkey’s state-run international news channel TRT World at a fast-breaking dinner.
Yusuf Erim, an editor at TRT World, announced on X that he had an exclusive interview with Tate, 35, at an iftar dinner where they had a wide ranging discussion that covers his legal issues, the future of social media, geopolitics and much more.
Erim, who posted a short clip of the interview, said the interview would soon be broadcast by TRT World.
Iftar and an exclusive with Andrew Tate @Cobratate
We had a wide ranging discussion that covers his legal issues, the future of social media, geopolitics and much more.
The interview will be dropping soon @trtworld 🔥🔥🔥 pic.twitter.com/3KyGwHUlJg
— Yusuf Erim (@YusufErim34) April 1, 2024
It was not clear where the interview took place, but Tate was recently in Turkey.
In early March he posted a photo from İstanbul, which received over 12 million views in less than a day. He asked his 9 million followers on X to guess the city.
The photo showed Tate and a view of the Bosporus as well as Turkish football club Beşiktaş’s stadium in İstanbul, adorned with with a Turkish flag. Many of his followers guessed that he was at the city’s Ritz Carlton hotel.
Tate came to Turkey at a time when the country’s interior ministry has been cracking down on international criminals, arresting or extraditing dozens of them since the beginning of the year.
Prosecutors in Romania filed an indictment against Tate and his brother last June, accusing them and two Romanian women of forming an organized criminal group in 2021 and trafficking women across Romania, Britain and the United States.
Some details of the charges have been kept confidential, but an official in the prosecutor’s office confirmed that Andrew Tate is also facing a rape charge.
The fact that TRT, which is taxpayer funded, does not give much coverage to opposition parties and is accused of acting as the mouthpiece of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) government, hosted a controversial figure like Tate, brought even more criticism to the organization.
Some social media users said TRT should allow opposition politicians appear in its broadcasts instead of an online influencer who faces charges of sexual abuse and rape.