Angela de Jong cannot imagine that she, like Tim Hofman, will one day become the victim of some madman who wants to kill her. “Then you think for a moment: shit.”
As a columnist for the AD with a sharp opinion, Angela de Jong often receives loads of criticism. Sometimes there is someone convicted who threatened her with death. “I’m going to record your movements, I’m going to destroy you,” was his threat. “Sit at Boulevard a few more times and you’ll end up between six planks just like Peter R.”
Sober Angela
Tim Hofman also recently suffered from such a crazy person. He had come all the way to the BNNVARA building with a firearm. The target? Shooting the presenter dead. Horrible, Angela thinks. “That is absolutely bad and I don’t think it should be part of it. At the same time, I know that nowadays it is part of life and you should not pay too much attention to it.”
She continues This Is The Day: “I don’t think everyone should do that, but I think that for myself. I won’t let it get bigger than it is, I’ll deal with it very level-headed and as long as they don’t show up on my doorstep, everything will be fine.”
Hofman scenario
An incident like that with Tim scares her. “When I read that Tim Hofman has someone standing in front of the VARA counter with a loaded gun, you think for a moment: shit, what happens if one of those crazy people – because that’s often the case, of course – gets into his head to join the AD? Or even worse: at my house.”
It’s something with all those social media nowadays, according to Angela. “Social media is really twenty times worse for women than for men, because you are constantly being judged. Not on what you say, but on how you say it and how you look.”
‘Don’t worry about it’
Angela hopes that it does not stop women from continuing to appear in the media. “I sometimes think: if we really want to change something, we should simply dare to say to each other: ‘Don’t worry about it.’”
“What’s the worst that could happen to you? Then they can be mad at you on Twitter. Regardless of all the threats that exist, of course…”