Tim den Besten goes deep through the dust because he sang a Sinterklaas song on television. “It was a spontaneous but stupid response and I’m sorry I sang that song.”
Amsterdam was turned upside down on Saturday because of the annual Canal Parade in the canals, which was broadcast live on television. The report of NPO 1 managed to captivate a nice 335,000 viewers. At one point, presenters Rik van de Westelaken and Splinter Chabot welcomed the hysterical VPRO star Tim den Besten at their desk.
Santa Claus
Tim’s performance in the live broadcast started quite loudly. He was shouting very loudly at a boat of the public broadcaster AvroTros, because his good friend Nicolaas Veul was on it. “Yes, Sint-Nicolaas is now arriving by boat! Sinterklaas, come in with your servant!” he sang.
This sentence from a traditional Sinterklaas song is experienced by some people as hurtful and Tim has received many reactions about it. “I get some hate messages because I sang a Sinterklaas song during the Pride broadcast on NPO 1. Of course I didn’t because there were black people on the boat,” he writes on Instagram.
“I’m very sorry, Tim”
The reason Tim started singing that is because he jokingly calls his good friend Nicholas Saint Nicholas. And Sinterklaas is again a derivative of that name. “So I did that because Nicolaas (Veul) was on that boat. I think it was also very clear. If not: hereby clarified.”
A follower reacts critically:I mean: yesclearly, but that song and especially that sentence is of course really a shit number that makes the racism of Sinterklaas very clear… It’s a pity that you don’t seem to see that at the moment. I know you are anti-racism and a great guyThat’s why I’m sorry to hear that song from your mouth I guess.”
‘I never sing it’
Tim responds as follows: “You are absolutely right. It was a spontaneous response, and that song was the first thing I blurted out. I shouldn’t have. I never sing it any further. But now suddenly without thinking. Sorry. ”
Tim then posts another apology-story: “I shouldn’t have chanted ‘Sinterklaasje come in with your servant’ when I saw Sint Nicolaas Veul standing on a pride boat. It was a spontaneous but stupid response and I’m sorry if I sang that song and if I hurt people with it. I was a bit stupid. Sorry about that.”
Stories
Two of Tim’s stories:
