The ninth installment of Tucker Carlson's Twitter program aired Tuesday, and on it was a surprise guest that even some conservatives were side-eyeing. The former Fox host interviewed a person he called "the most Googled man in the world last year"—Andrew Tate, the misogynistic social-media influencer who remains under house arrest in Romania, facing charges of rape, human trafficking, and the sexual exploitation of women by forcing them to make porn videos to bring in cash. That last fact especially is why eyebrows were raised at Carlson's decision to chat for more than two hours with Tate, who offered his views on, among other things, pornography, per the Daily Beast.
The 36-year-old British American lamented that "less men are having sex than ever before," blaming that partly on his assertion that "masculine virtue is being destroyed." "Men are replacing genuine sexual relationships with just the computer screen and porn, and it's becoming a very, very big problem," Tate told Carlson. "I guarantee you, if you were the kind of man you were supposed to be ... you wouldn't need [porn]." He also delved into his own issues, scoffing at claims that he and his brother, Tristan, who's also been charged in Romania, did what they're being accused of.
"So ... you are not accused of pandering, of pimping, of forcing women to have sex with anybody?" Carlson asked, per the Independent. "No," Tate responded. "Not forcing them to have sex, not for restraining their movement ... but the fact that we are somehow convincing them to have TikTok." The Hindustan Times notes at least one other claim made by Tate that the paper calls "outrageous." "We should all give Putin credit for curing COVID," Tate insisted. "When his invasion [of Ukraine] happened, COVID went away."
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The Independent notes that criticism of Carlson's interview came from all corners. "After lamenting about how young men are now withdrawing into porn, Tucker Carlson then proceeds to sympathetically interview an unapologetic pornographer—for two and a half hours!" tweeted journalist Justin Baragona. Conservative radio host Erick Erickson threw in a reference to Sound of Freedom, the controversial new film promoted by the right that centers on child trafficking. Erickson noted: "Are you an Andrew Tate right winger or a Sound of Freedom right winger. You can't really be both." Even Twitter owner Elon Musk weighed in, simply tweeting, "Interesting interview." (More Tucker Carlson stories.)
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