AvroTros does not take the ‘hurtful’ images in which Tim den Besten sings a line from a Sinterklaas song offline. “This way everyone can see it and form their own opinion.”
Tim den Besten is going through a very difficult time because of his performance in the AvroTros broadcast about the Canal Parade in Amsterdam last Saturday. When his good friend Nicolaas Veul approached in a parade boat, Tim sang a line from a traditional Sinterklaas song, namely: “Sinterklaasje, come in with your servant.”
Tim not cut away
For some people, Tim is now a racist and he has a hard time with that. He hardly even dares to get coffee at Starbucks, he told the radio. “Then you stand in line at Starbucks and there were only black people behind that cash register. I don’t know, it’s just not what I would do. Sorry for this too, but the reactions are so intense.”
The AvroTros has decided not to cut out the images – you can see a fragment below – from the broadcast which can still be seen on NPO Start (from minute 21:50). “We leave the broadcast on NPO Start. In this way everyone can see it and form their own opinion,” according to the broadcaster.
Jeangu MacRooy
There are also people angry about it statement by AvroTros, which speaks of an ‘unfortunate coincidence’. Some people claim that the broadcaster around Tim’s singing deliberately zoomed in on two black men on the AvroTros boat, namely Jeangu Macrooy and his brother Xillan.
A spokesperson does not want to say whether AvroTros has now had contact with the Songfestival singer and his brother. “We stand by our statement previously posted on Instagram and we believe we are dealing with an unfortunate set of circumstances that did not involve malicious intent.”
Fragment
The fragment of Tim and his Sinterklaas song:
