Jort Kelder has no problem with his talk show Op1 going off the air, but urgently advises the NPO about the successor: “You don’t want an activist, left-wing show…”
In six months’ time the time has come: the TV funeral of Op1 will take place. After the summer there will be a new sound on the late evening of NPO 1: the progressive sound of Khalid & Sophie. To bed with Connie Palmen. What does Jort Kelder think of it all? The presenter of Op1 was presented with it last night Today Inside.
Op1 monster
Jort doesn’t think stopping Op1 in itself is such a disaster. “I’m unemployed, yes. Read from the newspaper, bad, right? I was never hired, so I can’t have ever been fired. It did circulate. Yes. Don’t be fooled – that has of course been circulating for a long time. I think they wanted to stop six months ago.”
He continues: “I don’t think it’s a problem that it stops. It’s sad for the people who work there, but of course it’s such a monster. It once arose out of panic because Eva Jinek left and now she comes back and Op1 has to leave again. That’s irony.”
Activism TV
Op1 is a failure, says Jort. “Ten faces and eighteen couples have been there; that just doesn’t work on TV, it doesn’t make sense. I think it’s good that the NPO wants something different there, but of course you don’t hope that it will become some kind of activist, left-wing show.”
Jort is of course simply referring to Khalid & Sophie, which will replace Op1. “It is said that one of the reasons is that when Eva Jinek sits down in the early evening, there must be some kind of progressive voice in the evening to defend the public value. That circulates. They didn’t tell me, but that’s circulating.”
Signs of the times
Bringing Khalid & Sophie to the late evening and giving BNNVARA the late night slot for twelve months is a huge blunder, says Jort. “I don’t think you’re really reading the signs of the times. If you really want to blow up the NPO and ensure that they completely destroy the budget with that formation, then you have to do that.”
When asked directly whether he thinks Khalid & Sophie is an activist left-wing programme, Jort answers: “I don’t say activist-left, but that of course has quite a left-wing signature. I believe that all kinds of people gave GroenLinks-PvdA voting advice.”
Every night
Wouldn’t Jort himself want to make a talk show every evening? “No rather not. A while then. A week or two weeks, but for months? No, horrible, no.”
Does he ever watch Khalid Kasem and Sophie Hilbrand’s program? No. “I never watch Khalid & Sophie.”