Jörgen Raymann thinks it is a shame that BnnVara has chosen to award the New Year’s Eve conference to Claudia de Breij again this year. “It’s always the same safe choice,” he complains.
BnnVara is always talking about diversity, but in the meantime the broadcaster’s prestigious New Year’s Eve conference is alternately provided by a group of white comedians and that is wrong, says Jörgen Raymann. When asked, he complains about it in the VARAgids, the club magazine of the progressive broadcaster.
Colored comedian
The VARA guide interviewer on duty presents it to Jörgen. “We have never had a colored comedian who does the New Year’s Eve conference in the Netherlands: Claudia de Breij again this year.”
And that turns out to be an annoyance to the presenter. He says: “I think she’s great, that’s not the point, and I also really liked Peter Pannekoek last year, but it’s always the same safe choice, while I think there is enough talent. Ryan Pandey, to name just one person, could also do that fantastically.”
Never asked
Has Jörgen ever been asked? “Never. I definitely would have wanted to do it then, but not anymore.”
Nowadays he no longer dares to make all the jokes. “I wouldn’t do that Chinese herbalist that I played at the time anymore, because I see how sensitive that is in the Asian community.”
He continues: “I have never done it to insult Chinese people, on the contrary: in my programs I have always addressed the misconception that they all work in the catering industry, while the majority work in the medical sector.”
Hanky Panky
Jörgen finds jokes about minorities difficult in 2026. “Don’t forget that five or six years ago, children at school were learning to sing Hanky Panky Shanghai while making slit eyes with their fingers, so I’m glad that people are now standing up from that community.”
The same applies to certain words, such as the n-word, he concludes. “For example, I only use that when I talk about myself: then I call myself nigger and use it as a nickname, because that word is no longer acceptable in other contexts these days.”
