Noa Vahle and other so-called ‘fake babies’ are increasingly bothered by people who value equality of opportunity. After Shownieuws, the AD is now also paying ample attention to it.
Fake babies, children of well-known stars who also enter showbiz, are plagued by a fierce discussion about their privileged position. It came over from the United States, where New York Magazine has a very much-discussed cover devoted to. Is nepotism still socially acceptable in 2023?
Lightning Career
The AD has one today great article on which numerous experts have their say. The central question is whether the wheelbarrows used by the Molpjes, Roelvinkjes, Krabbés, Brandsteders and Borsatos are still desirable. The lightning career of Noa Vahle, the daughter of Linda de Mol, was particularly striking last year.
Teenagers and people in their twenties in particular would no longer be able to find this, says cultural sociologist Samira van Bohemen in the article. “They are disturbed by social inequality and those stars symbolize that.”
After all, those fake babies always have an edge. “People think opportunistically: your father is good, then you will be too.”
Big problem
Mark Deuze, professor of Media Studies at the UvA, even speaks of an ‘extremely big problem’. “Because that’s why the media world is so incredibly homogeneous. Everyone shouts that it should be more diverse, but in the end they always choose people who are similar to those who are already inside.”
In addition to Noa Vahle, the concrete examples cited by the AD include André Hazes Jr., Dave Roelvink, Rick Brandsteder, Tatum Dagelet and Beau Schneider.
Equal Opportunity
Shownieuws already had an item about fake babies last Sunday. André Hazes jr., Luuk van der Boom and Sem van Dijk were mentioned as examples. The name of Noa Vahle, the boss’s niece, did not come up.
Iris van Lunenburg did have a strong opinion about fake babies like Noa. “I do think that the discussion that is at stake now, and has been going on for some time, is about equality of opportunity and inequality of opportunity. (…) Very logical if you see something from your parents that makes you think: I would have liked to have done that too, but acknowledging it a bit is of course nice.”
Sneak at Rick
Story boss Guido den Aantrekker: “You have to have real talent. Nothing to the detriment of Rick Brandsteder, he is of course a very nice presenter, but Ron was the TV face of TROS in the past. You can see that Rick has probably been given the opportunity to do this, but becoming as big as his father is quite difficult.”
Colleague Frits Huffnagel points out that some fake babies are really talented: “Martijn Krabbé would never have had such a great career if he wasn’t just incredibly talented.”
Takers
Incidentally, that is not the objection of critics. Although nepo babies can be talented, the point is that equally talented or perhaps more talented people are less likely to succeed because of those nepotism profiteers.
“Open that door also for starters who are not in such an advantaged position,” calls Mark Deuze.
