Andrew Tate Clashes With Female Reporter in Defiant Interview

Andrew Tate shot down allegations of rape and misogyny in a fiery interview with BBC correspondent Lucy Williamson, telling her that she's "not the boss" as he rejected her line of questioning.

The American-British influencer sat down with the U.K. broadcaster for his first major TV interview since he was released into house arrest in April. Tate was arrested in Romania on December 29, along with his brother, Tristan, and two Romanian nationals, and charged with human trafficking.

Romanian prosecutors claim that Tate and his brother coerced six women into producing pornography, with the alleged victims facing "acts of physical violence and mental coercion." It was also reported that Tate had been accused of rape.

According to the BBC, Tate agreed to his new interview with no set conditions. However, footage of the interview, which was broadcast on Thursday, shows that the social media personality was particularly unimpressed with the line of questioning he faced.

He also accused the BBC of having "invented" an alleged victim of coercion who spoke with the news outlet about Tate anonymously.

"We have an open criminal investigation, I am absolutely and utterly sure I'll be found innocent," Tate told his interviewer. "I know the case better than you. I know it intimately and you don't. I have seen all the criminal files and the evidence against me and you haven't. I know the truth of what happened and you don't.

"And I'm telling you absolutely and utterly, I've never hurt anybody, that the case that's been put against me is completely and utterly fabricated and I'm never going to be found guilty of anything."

'I'm a Nice Person'

At one point during the exchange, Williamson told Tate as she sat with him in his home in Romania: "You have said, 'My job was to meet a girl, go on a few dates, sleep with her, get her to fall in love with me to the point where she'd do anything I say, and then get her on webcam so we could become rich together.'"

"I don't think that's what I personally said," Tate responded, prompting Williamson to interject: "That's exactly what you said on your website."

"No, I've never said that," Tate reiterated. "That's something that you found on the internet. It doesn't mean I've said it...If any female on the planet has a problem with me, I strongly recommend her to go to the police and try and pursue me for criminal charges. I'm actually such a nice person."

Cutting in, Williamson said: "The BBC spoke to somebody since your arrest, who says exactly those things; that with you, it's all manipulation. There's an ulterior motive."

"Is this Sophie?" Tate asked, using the name applied to his anonymous accuser. "Oh, Sophie—the fake name, no face...The story that was invented."

While Tate attempted to diminish the veracity of the claims, Williamson pressed on by reading an excerpt of the allegations. "I was so intent on wanting to please him and wanting him to be happy that I was just kind of, 'Yeah, OK. Do whatever you want.' That's coercion."

"Has she accused me of a crime, this imaginary Sophie?" Tate asked.

"She's making the point that there is emotional or psychological manipulation," Williamson answered, prompting Tate to interject: "Has she accused me of a crime? I'm asking you a question, and I've allowed you into my house."

"I'm asking you a question," Williamson told Tate, who responded: "Correct, but you're not the boss...I've allowed you into my house."

"I'm asking you the questions," the interviewer reiterated. "You get to decide the answers."

"No," Tate hit back. "We are equal here. I've allowed you into my house. You don't come here with a position of authority. I'm doing you the favor as legacy media, giving you relevance by speaking to you. And I'm telling you now, this Sophie, which the BBC has invented, which has no face, nobody knows who she is..."

'Absolute Garbage'

When Williamson insisted that the BBC did not invent Sophie, Tate quipped: "Of course not, because you never invent anything. [Sophie] has not filed criminal charges against me. What are we talking about here? What is she saying?"

"We're talking about emotional manipulation into the sex industry for your financial gain," Williamson answered.

After Tate branded Williamson's response "absolute garbage," the interviewer pressed on. "I'm describing women who are going to court to accuse you of rape and human trafficking. And I'm describing women who have spoken to the BBC at length and other media organizations about what they say is emotional manipulation and coercion. And I'm quoting back to you your own words, where you describe coercion and emotional manipulation."

"They're not my words," said former kickboxer Tate. "They're words you found on the internet, and Sophie doesn't exist. So let's move on to the next subject."

"No, I think I'll stick on this one for a minute," Williamson hit back. "So there are other places in that same website where you say you get girls to fall in love with you and they do it because they love you because they want to do what you say.

"Convincing women to take part in some kind of business arrangement doesn't work long-term because they're emotional. You've got to get them to fall in love with you. That's coercion. That's emotional manipulation. That's abuse."

Repeated Denials

Amid Tate's repeated denials that he said such things, he urged Williamson to check his website as apparent proof.

"It's the website you've taken down and I wonder why those comments have been taken down," Williamson said.

"No websites have been taken down, my website is the same," Tate told Williamson. "That's been the same for a very long time. You are accusing me, I'm guessing what you're trying to say [and] you're accusing me of, you're trying to say that I'm guilty of the things I'm accused of and I'm emotionally manipulative."

"I'm saying that you have said you emotionally manipulated people here for your own financial gain," Williamson clarified.

"No, absolutely not," Tate defiantly responded.

Elsewhere in the contentious interview, Tate said that it was "completely disingenuous" to "pretend" that he was damaging young people with the statements he makes online.

The BBC has reported that Tate's accuser, known publicly as Sophie, is helping Romanian authorities in their investigation of the influencer.

Over the years, Tate has been criticized for a number of controversial comments about women, including his 2017 claim that they "must bear some responsibility" if they are raped, during the #MeToo scandal.

According to The Guardian newspaper, in one video Tate discussed how he would react to a woman accusing him of cheating, saying: "Bang out the machete, boom in her face and grip her by the neck. Shut up b****."

Tate, who has repeatedly denied any involvement in human trafficking, has received a some support over the most recent allegations, with conservative commentator Candace Owens stating she doesn't believe he's a "rapist."

Specialists from the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network sexual assault hotline are available 24/7 via phone (1 (800) 656-4673) and online chat. Additional support from the group is also accessible via the mobile app.