Claudia de Breij is ‘cowardly’ because, like the rest of her BnnVara colleagues, she is silent about Matthijs van Nieuwkerk and his oeuvre, says Tina Nijkamp. And Johan Derksen: “It annoyed me.”
BNNVARA is currently making itself known with the latest edition of the VARA guide, in which the 100th anniversary of the broadcaster is celebrated. No attention is paid to De Wereld Draait Door and the big star of that legendary program: Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. They’re just trying to erase that history.
‘It’s bizarre!’
Tina Nijkamp is very disappointed that the celebrities of the broadcaster are also participating in this ‘falsification of history’. “It is bizarre that freelancer Özcan Akyol, who made his breakthrough through Matthijs and DWDD, also graces the cover of that guide.”
She continues in her Telegraph column: “And that Claudia de Breij, once the Monday talk show presenter, makes no effort to mention Matthijs’ name in her long contribution.”
“She’s a coward!”
Claudia briefly mentions in her contribution that the show was ‘special’. “But she is cowardly silent about the man who made it possible. And in the meantime she fulminates about what is wrong in the Netherlands. What is wrong? So this.”
According to Tina, it is hypocritical. “Yes, Matthijs had outbursts. That was wrong. That was discussed. That had consequences. But let’s keep the facts clear: Matthijs has no criminal record, he did not have to go to prison. Moreover: BnnVara’s management looked away for years. Those people were not canceled, but simply moved on to other top positions.”
Johan pissed off
Johan Derksen also thinks it’s retarded. “It really annoyed me. I am a member of the VARA guide and the cover is a fold-out photo with all the big VARA stars and it includes Erik Dijkstra and Tim Hofman and Eus. Completely full of all kinds of famous people, except Matthijs van Nieuwkerk, the biggest VARA star I have experienced in my time.”
Wilfred Genee objects Today Inside: “Yes, Sonja maybe.”
Johan: “Yes, okay, but I think he has had the most watched program all these years and he is just completely ignored. It’s a shame.”
Laughable
It’s ‘laughable’, Wilfred also thinks. Johan: “And none of the B-artists in that photo said: ‘We’re not going to sit here and be proud if Matthijs is there!’ No, no, shit on Matthijs, guys!”
Wilfred: “As a broadcaster you make a fool of yourself with something like that, René? This is not possible, is it?”
René van der Gijp: “No, this is not possible.”
Johan: “Too crazy for words, but VARA has changed so much. I have had the VARA guide for about forty years because it was a nice program magazine with nice sections, but it is now like the Volkskrant with left-wing sections. The only column I still read is Youp, which sometimes has something nice, but it is really terrible.”