Sir Philip Green has described the past few days as a “horror story” as he rejected allegations of racial abuse and sexual harassment of staff after being named in Parliament.
The Topshop boss, who was identified as the businessman at the centre of #MeToo claims, complained that he had been used for “target practice”.
In an interview with The Mail on Sunday, the business tycoon said the controversy was “injuring” his business before he described the past days as a horror story.
It comes after Labour cabinet minister Lord Hain used parliamentary privilege to name the businessman as the individual behind a legal injunction against the Daily Telegraph.
The newspaper was banned from publishing “confidential information” from five employees by the Court of Appeal.
The businessman, who was recently confronted by camera crews at a health resort in Arizona, acknowledged that during his years in business he had engaged in “some banter”.
However, he said that there was never any intent to be offensive.
“I’m very, very upset. I’m being used as target practice. It’s injuring my business, all the people potentially working in the business, and it’s injuring me and my family,” he told The Mail on Sunday.
"I've been in business for more than 40 years. There has obviously from time to time been some banter and a bit of humour, but as far as I'm concerned there was never any intent to be offensive.
"I believe I have a good relationship with all my staff. In all that time, until the recent issues, I've not had one litigation or complaint.
"If anything I've said has caused offence, I'm happy to apologise. Nothing I've said was ever meant to be offensive.
"The whole thing is distressing. I repeat I have never, ever sexually harassed anybody. It's nonsense."
Sir Philip has said he intends to lodge a formal complaint with the House of Lords authorities over Lord Hain for failing to declare he was a paid adviser to the law firm representing the Telegraph when he made his intervention.
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Lord Hain said he was unaware that the firm, Gordon Dadds, was involved in the case when he spoke and dismissed Sir Philip's allegation as a "malevolent diversion".
"I stand resolutely by what I've said and neither retract nor apologise for standing up for human rights," he said.
Lord Hain has been criticised by some lawyers and legal experts for what they say was an abuse of parliamentary privilege, although he has been backed by many MPs.
Additional reporting by Press Association.
