Sophie Hilbrand is under extreme fire because she cried so much about ‘sweetheart’ Khalid Kasem during her TV return. “She just declares him a saint. This is very unprofessional.”
Khalid Kasem has been taken off the air because of his shady behavior during his time as a lawyer, but there is something much more explosive about him in the pipeline. So explosive that the judge has not allowed AD to publish this – it is reportedly about his connection with criminal Ridouan Taghi. Anyway: Khalid & Sophie is no more, it is now Sophie & Jeroen.
Khalid, the darling
Sophie was very emotional during her TV return last night. She has tears in her eyes when she talks about him. “We can actually hope for a good outcome. (…) Yes, we just hope that he will be seen here again and in the meantime we are of course very happy that Jeroen Pauw.”
Sophie and sidekick Hanneke Groenteman then start cheering Khalid. He’s “a sweetheart,” “a sweetheart,” and, “We just miss him.” Hanneke: “Tall trees catch a lot of wind, I always think, and he has now caught a lot of wind and my heart is really a bit broken with compassion. (…) He is really a sweetheart.”
A tall tree
Media journalist Jef Willemsen thinks it’s ridiculous. “So by definition, Khalid has done nothing wrong, is he a sweetheart, a tall tree that catches a lot of wind and is the real culprit the media reporting? Bright. Shameless, but clear,” he writes on X.
Fellow journalist Irma Kok notes that Hanneke is ‘cuckoo’, after which Jef adds: “Let’s say her vision is… colored. But she’s the last person to deny that. She finds him sympathetic because of what he did for Nouri. Which can. But should you take that into account in this situation?”
Declared as holy
Journalist Ton F. van Dijk, also former channel boss of NPO 1, thinks it is insane. “Is Khalid now being canonized here? How unprofessional, wait for the investigation, for the same money he is up to his ears in it and this fragment will be repeated endlessly for the next ten years.”
Media journalist Mark Koster thinks Sophie is failing. “Vintage BNNVARA. Sonja Barend once giggled along with Stanley Hillis. Sophie Hilbrand is a waving sea anemone who can tell you anything. She had no idea what Hanneke Groeteman was talking about when she mentioned April 30. Classic story, but Hilbrand didn’t know it.”
‘Goes way too far’
Media critic Victor Vlam states that Hanneke has ’embarrassed’ herself. “I think the editors wanted someone as a sidekick with whom Sophie feels comfortable. But it turned out wrong. They strengthened each other in their emotions and went way too far,” he writes on X.
VVD celebrity Frans Weisglas: “Really bizarre, especially that crying Hanneke Groenteman.”
And AD reporter Jeffrey Stevens: “What a treat! 🍿Sophie cries bitter tears and Hanneke Groenteman talks about ‘that sweet darling’. As if it was all done to him.”
‘Very remarkable’
Even Humberto Tan makes a critical note in his talk show. “There has been a lot of criticism. From: exaggerated, he’s not dead. I thought it was so remarkable that she didn’t tell us, but only Hanneke.”
Journalist Bart Schut speaks on X of a ‘table full of spineless yes-men’. “They look as if Kasem is a murdered human rights activist, instead of a corrupt mafia buddy. Everything that is wrong with the NPO in a fragment. Do Jeroen and Fidan, then maybe something can be saved.”
‘Jeroen regrets’
The men from Today Inside also dive in. Johan Derksen: “Hysterical. Two ladies, an older woman and a younger woman, pretend the world is ending. It’s melodramatic nonsense. If Khalid is found guilty, I wonder what she will say. Maybe she will hang herself on the spot.”
Table guest Job Knoester: “It’s really bad, yes. I think Jeroen Pauw very much regrets saying yes when you see this. It has to go tomorrow! No, he’s not going to cry, no. You don’t hear them say: let’s hope it’s not true. She says, “Let’s hope it ends well.” She has lived here for a long time and then you do this!”
Fragment
The fragment in question: