An interview in which ex-kickboxer Andrew Tate says he “was not arrested” but “swatted” in Romania dates back to August 2022. Following the detention of Tate and his brother in Romania on Dec. 29, social media users shared an extract of the months-old exchange with Fox News host Tucker Carlson to falsely claim the brothers had been released.
“ANDREW TATE and his Brother have been Released. NO CHARGES. #TopG with the W,” reads part of a tweet with the video that has been retweeted over 4,220 times since it was posted on Dec. 29. (here)
Other iterations can be found on TikTok (here here) and Facebook (here) (here)
Tate, a former professional kickboxer, and his brother Tristan were detained alongside two Romanian suspects in Bucharest on Thursday for an initial 24 hours on suspicion of human trafficking, rape and forming an organized crime group, Reuters reported (here).
Reuters reported on Friday that Romanian prosecutors had asked to extend the brothers’ detention by 30 days, and Andrew and Tristan Tate remained under arrest at the time of this writing.
A longer version of the exchange between Andrew Tate and Carlson was posted by Carlson’s official Facebook page on Aug. 25, 2022 (here).
The extract reshared recently, in which Tate can be heard saying at the end that he was “swatted” and that “nobody was hurt. There’s no human trafficking” is viewable between timestamp 4:57 and 6:25.
VERDICT
Misleading. A video in which Andrew Tate tells Tucker Carlson he was “swatted” predates his arrest in Romania on Dec. 29.
This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .
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