Jan Dijkgraaf wonders whether Jack van Gelder’s Jewish background played a role in the decision to kick him out of Hélène Hendriks’ talk show. “I’m just asking,” said the columnist.
It is striking how silent Hélène Hendriks is about dumping her regular guest Jack van Gelder. According to Johan Derksen, the decision not to let him participate in De Oranjewinter comes from Talpa, but Hélène does not stand up for him. He is busy giggling away at a new podcast with Merel Ek and the eternal Noa Vahle.
Right sound
All in all, there is something going on behind the scenes that the general public is unaware of. Jack himself says he only had one explanation. He received the following statement from Talpa’s TV boss Frans Klein: “The team has informed me that it will start with a different base for the time being, without you.”
How does Jan Dijkgraaf, biographer of the Meilandjes, who until recently were also shown on SBS 6, view it? “Frans Klein has been able to do what he wanted, namely to remove another right-wing voice from Talpa,” he says in his podcast Call Bassie.
“Come on, dude!”
Frans Klein, formerly the boss of BnnVara, apparently thinks so too much to hear Jack’s right-wing populist sound every evening, according to Jan. “The truth is of course that it is about Jack’s right-wing talk.”
He continues: “Come on, man, Frans Klein… That’s the architect behind Matthijs van Nieuwkerk and the whole mess there! It’s the man who has his anniversary party (at BnnVara, ed.) in his brother’s restaurant and that’s the kind of place where you don’t get a receipt when you order, you know.”
Jewish Jack
That Frans is someone you cannot trust, Jan thinks. “Why are you going to celebrate your party with your brother and not in a restaurant where you don’t benefit anyone from the family? Frans Klein is really as wrong as the nits.”
A little later: “Could it also be because Jack is Jewish? I’m just asking.”
Co-host Bas Paternotte surprised: “That Frans Klein Jack because of his Jewish…”
Jan: “Well, BNNVARA is of course leaning against GroenLinks…”
In hiding
Jack comes from a Jewish family. Both his parents survived the Second World War, but the war had a major impact on the family, he previously told the newspaper NOS. “My parents never wanted to burden me with their suffering. They went into hiding in Zeist for three and a half years.”
Jack himself does not want to say much about his exit from Hélène’s talk show. He does say that he has good contact with the presenter and she emphasized this in a short response to the AD. Furthermore, everyone remains silent about the issue, even the otherwise rebellious TV critic Victor Vlam, another regular guest of the presenter.