TOXIC WASTE

Andrew Tate spoke with Piers Morgan about his key role in spreading misinformation during the riots. It was combative and fruitless – but that was the point, writes Louis Chilton

- Louis Chilton

How does one describe Piers Morgan’s interview with Andrew Tate? The former News of the World editor welcomed the rightwing influencer and alleged sex trafficker onto his Uncensored interview web series, amid a week of violent, racist rioting across the UK. Tate was one of the most prominent voices to share the false claim that the man who murdered three young children in Southport was an illegal migrant; as racially motivated riots and hate crimes broke out across the UK, Tate continued to share incendiary anti-migrant posts to his audience of millions. “You’ve been spewing stuff that is blatantly racist,” Morgan told Tate, in an interview that had the feel of a discourse lurching into a gutter.

Seldom has the chasm been so wide and obvious between the stated intentions of Morgan’s show and its manifest agenda. Ostensibly, the ex-Good Morning Britain presenter was staking his claim as journalistic truth-teller. It’s along this tack that Morgan has recently conducted similarly provocative interviews with figures such as Armie Hammer, Kevin Spacey (both big-name actors accused of sexual assault) and Fiona Harvey, the woman who supposedly inspired the stalker character on Netflix’s hit miniseries Baby Reindeer. His aim here, he said, was holding Tate to “proper account” for spreading misinformation. Tate, per the show’s premise, was given a full uncensored hour to do what he enjoys most – posture and prevaricate around the subjects of race, immigration and politics – while Morgan, ever the prolapsed Paxman, attempted to call out his subject’s hypocrisies, lies and incitements.