It is inevitable that Cornald Maas will be sitting on the couch full of tension. Will he lose his sweet trips to the Eurovision Song Contest after all these years? “Perhaps Richard Groenendijk will be more popular.”
The AvroTros has withdrawn from the Eurovision Song Contest in a rather hysterical manner. The broadcaster is anti-Israel and does not even want to broadcast the song festival. That is why the NOS and NTR will do that next year, without Dutch input. And also without Cornald Maas. He is too much AvroTros and is therefore not sent to Vienna.
Infected edition
Cornald himself reacts with resignation. “The AvroTros just released the message that I will not comment on the Eurovision Song Contest 2026,” he writes. Instagram.
He continues: “Apart from that decision and the ambition of NOS/NTR to report from a ‘neutral role’: now that AvroTros is not sending a participant, I also think it would be better to skip a year — especially because of the current controversies and the ‘contaminated’ edition of the Eurovision Song Contest that is coming.”
Calmer waters
After that, Cornald simply hopes to return. “In 2027, as AvroTros already indicated, if the Netherlands does participate, I will, as usual, report on the song festival in complete freedom, which will hopefully be in calmer waters. To quote Corry Brokken: ‘Just like then’.”
The big question, however, is: will the viewer still want Cornald by then? “I have good news for a lot of people. At least, I always hear from a lot of people, including me, myself and Icomplain about Cornald Maas’s comments. For those people: he will not do the commentary next year,” sneers show expert Bart Ettekoven. Show news.
Neutral role
Reporter Jordi Versteegden thinks that Cornald is playing well again. “I think he is disappointed, to be honest, because he says no in this statement, but this is of course his annual highlight. He will soon lose all his programs at the NPO. Oerol and Opium are leaving and this is his annual party. Of course he is disappointed.”
Bart thinks Cornald has enough to fear at this point. “You never know: if someone comes along now – the NOS will announce it in the spring – who can do it better, and there is a chance, then people might think: ‘Wait a minute!’”
Richard’s successor?
Who would Bart consider a good candidate for the commentator spot? “Richard Groenendijk has already said a few times: ‘Please let me do it.’ I love Richard and his villainous humor, so I think he could do that fantastically.”
Jordi concludes: “We will also have to rely on the commentary this year, of course, right? We are not participating ourselves, so there must be another reason…”