Willie Wartaal, one of the new coaches in The Voice of Holland, reacts very awkwardly when he is asked in De Telegraaf about his bond with former coach Ali B. “Next question!”
Of all the new coaches in The Voice of Holland, the biggest surprise is Willie Wartaal, because the general public does not know him at all and most people cannot name a hit from him. This is different with the other coaches Dinand Woesthoff, Ilse DeLange and Suzan & Freek. The last two in particular are popular among a wide audience.
Private detective
Apparently Willie acts a bit like the excuse rapper now that Ali B is no longer there. He has been convicted of rape and is no longer welcome in the RTL 4 family show.
Has Willie actually been properly vetted? “Everyone has been vetted. That seems healthy to me. We all had zoom conversations with psychologists and even a private detective, who dug into my past. No serious matters came up, otherwise they would not have chosen me,” he says in The Telegraph.
Pipe canary
What is the bond between Willie and the controversial former coach Ali B? He called him ‘Ali pipe canary’ during a TV roast in 2019. Moreover, he was once present at such a notorious writers’ camp. “Yeah, I don’t know man… next question bro. You know. I was only there with guys at the time.”
He continues: “Music was just being made, and I was only there for one day. So no, I never noticed anything. I’m not here to talk bad about Ali B. He is not necessarily a friend of mine. But what I do want to say about this is that this behavior occurs in many companies.”
Moron
What does Willie mean by that? “I mean, the man himself is a moron in himself. You have to frame them and not give them the chance to be completely themselves.”
So a man who is not framed behaves like Ali B? What does Willie actually mean? “Look. When I’m at a bachelor party with only men, the atmosphere is different than when there are women. But let’s continue.”
Phew, that’s actually better.
Rotten apples
Is Willie just trivializing Ali’s behavior? “I certainly don’t condone Ali’s behavior. I hope that there is no label attached to The Voice, but to the people who did it. Those bad apples have been removed. We would like to make a fresh start with a new team.”
Finally: will the Voice viewer be stuck with Willie in the coming years? “If they ask me for another season of The Voice, I will definitely say yes!”