Frank Masmeijer caused a disagreement at the André Rieu concert on Thursday evening. He insisted there on Shownieuws expert Bart Ettekoven, who absolutely did not feel like it.
After seven years in prison for cocaine smuggling, Frank Masmeijer was released after a request for pardon. The former presenter immediately enjoys life to the fullest, because he was spotted in Maastricht on Thursday evening. There he attended one of André Rieu’s Vrijthof concerts.
Hassle at the Vrijthof
Frank sat two tables behind Bart Ettekoven, an expert in Shownieuws and editor-in-chief of Weekend. He says: “Frank was sitting at a long table with his girlfriend Anita, having a great time chatting and having fun. I was like: is this wise to do in the week that it is announced that you have been pardoned? I liked that.”
Bart tells the desk of Shownieuws that Frank unexpectedly walked up to him, while the gentlemen do not know each other personally. “He came to me at that table and wanted to shake my hand. I said, ‘I don’t feel the need to shake your hand at all,’ to which he reacted a little shocked, ‘Why not?’”
quite embarrassing
With his fierce words Bart gave the released Frank a good start. “I said, ‘Why? I just don’t have that need and I also find it quite embarrassing that you are sitting here like this tonight.’”
Shownieuws colleague Dyantha Brooks thinks that is rude. “I find it very direct. Why couldn’t you – you’re not the Public Prosecution Service – just shake his hand and think: I’ll let him have a good evening? Why do you personally have to do so much…”
Natacha Harlequin: “Or don’t you want other people to see you shake his hand?”
‘Not posh’
Bart: “I just don’t want anything to do with this man.”
Dyantha: “Then you can also say: ‘Well, have a nice evening!’”
Studio guest Jack Plooij: “Can’t you say that without shaking your hand?”
Bart: “I just didn’t feel the need and it irritated me a bit that he was sitting there so casually on the Vrijthof. That’s what I said to him. He then said, ‘I have been pardoned, I am a free man. Should I go and sit behind the geraniums at home then?’ You don’t have an answer to that, but is it smart and chic to sit there?”
Uncomfortable moment
Colleague Victor Vlam applauds Bart’s attitude. “He has been convicted of smuggling 500 kilos of cocaine. He has been pardoned, which is nice for him, but then you keep a low profile and you don’t go out and party exuberantly. I can imagine that victims look at this and think: that’s brutal, you know.”
Bart: “Everyone was watching, including the tables around it who hadn’t seen him yet. He stood there, I stayed put and it was kind of an awkward moment.”
Yvonne .’s Spy
A Yvonne spy spotted Frank in Maastricht:
