Khalid Kasem immediately ceases his work as presenter of the talk show Khalid & Sophie after a bizarre and revealing article by the AD. “This is very dangerous, damn it!”
It is incredible what the AD is coming out with tonight: in one very long article it is explained in detail that Khalid Kasem does not appear to be completely pure coffee. The NPO 1 star and pawnbroker appears to have confessed to Peter R. de Vries that he had bribed an official, and that is why he will now immediately stop hosting Khalid & Sophie.
Bizarre audio tapes
Journalists from the newspaper have mysteriously obtained audio tapes recorded in 2019 by the late Peter R. de Vries. In one of them, Peter speaks with a client from his law firm who has just been released, and in another he confronts Khalid – then still a lawyer at that firm – with this client’s accusations.
According to client Hans (fictitious name, ed.), Khalid made him an offer to arrange for him to be released earlier for 8,000 euros, whereupon Khalid – then still a lawyer – accepted this amount in cash. How would he arrange this? By bribing a judicial officer. Something that the Judicial Institutions Service will now investigate.
Peter confronts
You guessed it: Hans wasn’t released early at all. And once he was free, he went to Peter to get his story. “You know, if this gets out, he’ll take you down with him too, right,” he warns him on the tapes. And the crime journalist then knows that his entire career is at stake: “Then I can close down the office.”
Hans is convinced that Khalid pocketed it; According to him, Khalid did the same to another client. Peter therefore decides to confront his comrade, as can be heard on the tapes: “Either Hans has screwed up, loosely translated, or you have just bribed someone. And we are both in trouble.”
Khalid: “I understand. I can say: I didn’t do anything to him. Then the other variant remains.”
Damn it
In other words: Khalid clearly admits on this tape that he bribed an official. Peter reacts shocked: “That is something that also shocked us. Damn it Khalid.”
Peter realizes that he can never be credible on TV again if he protects Khalid and this comes out: “This is extremely dangerous Khalid. This could have blown everything up. Us there. And then of course I won’t have to sit on a talk show for the next three years – what do I say: the rest of my life – to say that something is right or wrong.”
Cover-up
Khalid is devastated, after which Peter and his son Royce de Vries decide to cover up this story, with all the risks that entails. They hope that the client will remain silent by saying goodbye and no longer sending a final invoice.
Peter pinches him a bit: “We can look two months ahead. But not two years and not six years either. You never know how something like this will turn up. Who else might he have said it to?”
Well, at least against Peter’s recording equipment, the tape of which has now been leaked.
Khalid steps up
After the transcripts in the bizarre AD article, many people will conclude that Khalid is not pure coffee. He himself now suddenly denies having bribed anyone: “Let it be clear that I have never been guilty of bribery, so I have not bribed an official at DJI nor have I ever attempted to do so.”
He continues: “It concerned a client with a high outstanding bill. I tried inappropriately to get some of that paid. It’s nothing more than that. However, that is not the way it should be, it was a rather stupid action and it embarrassed me a lot.”
BNNVARA is ready
BNNVARA doesn’t seem to have any interest in Khalid anymore. “We were not aware of the case outlined here and find the accusations serious. Integrity is essential for BNNVara and its makers. The accusations affect this integrity and will therefore have to be thoroughly investigated.”
It certainly looks like Khalid & Sophie has blown up with this. The talk show was actually supposed to be promoted to late evening after the summer, but that chance now seems very small. It could therefore be that Op1 continues to exist. Then you will soon have Eva Jinek in the early evening and the familiar Op1 in the late evening.
One thing is certain: even Will Koopman could not have come up with this twist in the Hilversum talk show soap.