Khalid Kasem can never return to television if the audio tapes that contain extremely sensitive information about him remain secret. That’s what communications expert Lars Duursma thinks.
Khalid Kasem’s TV career ended prematurely because the AD obtained sound recordings made by Peter R. de Vries. The former Khalid & Sophie presenter – still a lawyer during the audio recordings – confirms that he has accepted a sum of money in cash from a client. To bribe an official.
Heavy tape
The AD has a second article about Khalid on the shelf, but his former office buddy Royce de Vries has managed to prevent the newspaper from publishing it. Apparently what is said on these recordings is so explosive that publishing them could endanger people.
Presumably it concerns the connection between Khalid and top criminal Ridouan Taghi, but we will not find out for a while. But if something so intense hangs over the market, Khalid will never be able to cheerfully present a talk show on television again, right? Communications expert Lars Duursma suspects not.
Leaks to Taghi
Khalid was previously suspected of leaking information to Taghi’s gang, but this was never proven. “I asked a BNNVARA spokesperson whether they acknowledge that Khalid Kasem has never been exonerated by the Amsterdam dean when it comes to leaking to Taghi,” Lars says in his podcast The Communicados.
However, BNNVARA states that ‘the Amsterdam dean has announced that no evidence has been found for this accusation’. “And that is factually incorrect,” Lars explains. “There was evidence. There just wasn’t enough evidence.”
No clarity
Can Khalid return to television if the Khalid tapes remain secret? “Look, Khalid Kasem is dependent on BNNVARA for his TV career and the problem there is that they already know very well what the article is about through the extensive hearing and rebuttal, so they naturally take that into account in every decision, regardless of whether it is AD article will still be published.”
He continues: “Previously, Matthijs van Nieuwkerk and Frans Klein left for the commercial companies, but that seems unlikely for Khalid until there is clarity about this. And as long as the article is not published, that clarity is almost impossible. Then it quickly hangs over your head like a sword of Damocles.”
Never draw a line under it
Khalid will never be able to go anywhere again this way, says Lars. “So I wonder whether this statement really helped Khalid, because now he can never put it behind him and draw a line under it. I also asked the NPO: is there a criterion that you use to determine when and whether he can return?”
He concludes: “Well, they don’t want to say anything about that, which I find surprising, because they did that with Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. Maybe they already see that a return is actually not realistic…”