In retrospect, Albert Verlinde is a bit disappointed that he lashed out so hard at Khalid & Sophie. After all, he likes to use those types of programs to promote his musicals.
They have been having a hard time lately: Khalid Kasem and Sophie Hilbrand. Many people think that you should not promote this duo to the late evening at all, but rather relegate it to a difficult spot on, for example, NPO 2. Albert Verlinde also belongs to the group of people who are anything but fans of Khalid & Sophie.
Promote musicals
Albert lashed out at the two at the table at Today Inside, but in retrospect he is a bit disappointed about that. “’Too stupid to walk,’ I said of them. Then I think: why am I saying that?” he says in the column In The Walkways.
Albert’s regret has to do with his double hat, he admits. “Sometimes I also think: I also have musicals that I produce. Who knows, maybe one day it will get there and they’ll think: well, we’re not going to do that. I really think that sometimes. Then I think: yes…’
‘Because I think so’
Yet it apparently does not stop Albert from completely taking down such a duo. “But also because I think so.”
He thinks the two are too left. “I think that a quality of Pauw & Witteman and Sonja Barend – who was of course completely the left-wing queen – was that they had the quality to present it in such a way that all parties felt heard in a certain way. The fact that it was not filled in was already determined by the editors’ opinion.
Stupid sound
Khalid & Sophie reports too condescendingly about right-wing politics, Albert thinks. “Certainly when it comes to special matters, such as Israel and everything, but also about Wilders, then I think: it is all easily said, you know. 37 seats are simply moved aside: we don’t have to do anything with them.”
As a broad talk show at seven o’clock in the evening, he believes everyone should feel at home with the show. “Of course, it is a shock for everyone that we suddenly have that party. But at seven o’clock you can be on the left and shout all kinds of things, but that also includes the other sound. Without dismissing it as if it were a stupid sound.”
Real estate guy
Finally, Wilfred Genee points Albert to the news that Khalid turns out to be a very wealthy pawnbroker. “Does it matter that Khalid Kasem is a real estate guy with a lot of houses or does it not matter? Doesn’t that all play a role?”
Albert: “No, Jeroen Pauw has half the talk show land in his pocket as a producer, so he is not without means either.”