Hélène Hendriks does not think it is a shame that Frans Timmermans is occasionally ‘fat-shamed’. She finds the jokes about the PvdA leader’s weight innocent. “No problem.”
The AD has one very great article made about how it would be a shame if jokes were made about Frans Timmermans’ weight. Geert Wilders also teased him during the SBS 6 debate and debate leader Wilfred Genee was confronted about this by the same newspaper. What does Hélène Hendriks think of it as a woman?
What does Hélène think?
Hélène talks at the Friday dinner table Today Inside that she has no problem with it. “Yes, I don’t really have a problem with harsh jokes and I have to be honest: Timmermans can also take it in that respect. By the way, he already did that here at the table.”
Well, that’s not quite right, as it turned out half an hour later in the talk show Op1. Frans was a guest there and he indicated that he had some difficulty with it. “We who are overweight know that you should always react relaxed and with a smile. That’s the only way you can respond to bullies.”
‘No kidding’
Geert Wilders’ TV joke (‘You can demand until you weigh an ounce, and that will take a while’) went down badly with Frans. “A joke is something else. This was no joke. At VI they also made a joke to me, like: ‘Do you fit between the table and the chair?’, but then you know who it came from. But this… He doesn’t need it.”
At Today Inside they think differently about this. They showed the fragment of Wilders’ joke again last night and it got a lot of laughs in the studio, including Hélène. She herself made a spicy joke in the summer about Pieter Cobelens’ weight.
Big loser
Anyway: the whole Frans Timmermans thing won’t work out, thinks Johan Derksen. “There is always talk about winners and losers, but do you know that I always feel a little sorry for Frans when he is orating? He does his best in his own way, but he is not convincing. He doesn’t have the favor factor in this country. There’s nothing you can do about that.”
Hélène is implacable: “No, he’s finished. But you can also see that in him.”
Wilfred: “Do you think so? He is still in the mood of: it is only just starting.”
Nice weather
Hélène thinks Frans is playing well. “Yes, but there is a big difference between saying something and watching someone move.”
Johan: “Don’t you think that behind the scenes, especially at GroenLinks, Klaver is white hot? Klaver briefly thought he would get an important ministerial post if Frans became the biggest. Well, that probably won’t work, so all that misery and the whole merger was for nothing.”
Hélène: “Yes, ultimately I think you can conclude that now.”
VVD voter
What will the VI stars themselves vote for? Hélène: “I think it will just be VVD again, because I don’t really see anything else that really stands out. I think Dilan came across well.”
René van der Gijp will also vote for the VVD. And Johan Derksen? He goes for Pieter Omtzigt.
Fragment
Frans angry about fat shaming: