Beau van Erven Dorens receives severe criticism because, just like Op1, he is in contact with 16-year-old Mohammed from Doorn. “You should just leave that boy alone.”
16-year-old Mohammed from Doorn was able to leave Gaza last week. The teenager was stuck with his family in the war zone, where his mother died more than two weeks ago. In Gaza he was in direct contact with a number of Dutch media, including Humberto Tan’s talk show.
‘Leave him alone’
The story is complete now that Mohammed is free, says Talpa boss Paul Römer. He thinks talk shows should leave the boy alone. “I think you should now give this boy and his family time and peace to first process the suffering that has happened to them and the enormous trauma before they talk about it in a talk show.”
He continues Speech makers: “I think you should be very reserved about that. (…) What happened to these people is of course not minor and I think you can do this state of mind no longer make a proper assessment of whether it is wise to sit down at the table and what the consequences of this actually are.”
Beau is in touch
NPO Radio 1 presenter Carl-Johan de Zwart asked how the current late talk shows, Beau and Op1, stand in this regard. “They both have contact with him and neither of them necessarily says ‘no’ to the question of whether they will catch up with him on the broadcast.”
He continues: “But they also say they feel a responsibility to act in the interests of that boy and they say they will not put pressure. Even if he wanted to, the editors could still decide not to do it.”
Putting pressure
Paul thinks that Op1 and Beau van Erven Dorens’ program are already going too far with this. “Yes, but calling him is already putting pressure, right? Approaching him is already putting pressure, isn’t it.”
Presenter Ajouad El Miloudi: “Yes, exactly.”
Paul: “Giving him the chance is already creating an opportunity. Then you have already made a choice as an editor. The moment you consider it and you call him and make contact, you are already setting a direction.”
Carl: “Even if you don’t invite him?”
Paul: “Why would you call him if you don’t want to invite him? Leave him alone.”
16 years
Ajouad thinks that Beau should understand that this boy is much too young. “I cannot emphasize enough that that boy is 16 and that he recently lost his mother. Not very long ago, Humberto had a 16-year-old boy at the table who was the victim of the Bilal Wahib joke and there was a lot of criticism about that.”
Rightly so, says Ajouad. “Because I don’t think a 16-year-old boy can estimate in advance what will happen to you if you participate in such a TV broadcast. (…) A day after the broadcast, a 16-year-old boy receives messages such as: ‘It is right that your mother is dead!’ Imagine if a boy like that would get a message like that! How should a boy like that deal with that?”
Paul: “No, that is not possible.”
Fragment
Today Inside star Job Knoester is now angry that Beau has called the increasing anti-Semitism in the Netherlands ‘understandable’: