Jack van Gelder, one of the regular faces of HLF8, receives a serious verbal blow from Lars Duursma, who was recently a guest on that talk show. “What a dirty little man!”
It is a turbulent period for Jack van Gelder, because his former NOS colleague Aïcha Marghadi has opened up about her experiences with the presenter. She states that he invited her to take a bath with him when she asked him to become his mentor. She experienced this as a serious cross-border situation.
Dirty man
Lars Duursma, the debate expert who was recently a guest in Jack’s clubhouse HLF8, finds it disgusting. He says in his podcast The Communicados: “Yes, rancid, terrible. Dirty man.”
Co-host Victor Vlam, known as a media connoisseur, thinks the same. “He says it’s a joke, but I can imagine that this has come to Aïcha in a completely wrong way. And also the fact that he has called a female colleague a ‘h**r’ several times, that is of course really not possible, that goes too far.”
‘He can’t go back’
According to Lars, it is impossible that Jack will return to HLF8. “No, and not only called her a h**r, but also managed to prevent her from going to foreign recordings of a prestigious event. I do wonder if he can still be credible back. I honestly don’t think so.”
Victor doubts. “It’s tricky because I think the facts on their own, as sleazy as it is… It shouldn’t mean the end of anyone’s career, should it? But I actually think: Jack van Gelder’s big problem is not the fact that this happened, but also that he lied so flatly about it.
‘It’s the cover up’
Jack has operated very clumsily, says Victor. “There is a well-known saying in the United States: ‘It’s not the crime, it’s the cover up‘. Jack van Gelder said very loudly at HLF8 in December last year: ‘Nothing happened at all’. Well, if you put that next to what we know now, that’s a ridiculous comment.”
He certainly knew about his past misconduct. “And then to deny everything so blatantly, that puts your own reputation at stake, and as a journalist that is all you have. Can we trust Jack van Gelder in the future if he is firm about something again? That’s the big question. I think that will be a big problem for him.”
Totally unbelievable
Lars thinks Jack is a lying man. “Yes. Look, the article shows a pattern of misconduct so clearly that it’s totally unbelievable that he didn’t notice it.”
Victor: “I also think that there is a task for a program such as HLF8 to ask more questions. He is very often a guest there, he is a child at home there. And they have actually settled for some superficial denials. They really should have asked here.”
Lars: “So I think we agree: Jack van Gelder will no longer be on television for the time being.”