Albert Verlinde has worked intensively with Marco Borsato in the past, but does not simply believe in his innocence. “I sympathize with you, but I know: if it’s true, then you’re an asshole.”
Marco Borsato must appear in court next week for indecently with an underage girl. Crime site has the indictment and reports that Marco is suspected of having touched all the girl’s intimate parts, but also of letting her touch his genitals. Marco will deny the allegations in court.
Sickening
Talk show host Renze Klamer is shocked by this. “I have to say, Albert, when I read it like this: it already didn’t sound good, but now it doesn’t sound good at all,” he says in his TV flop RTL Tonight.
Colleague Albert Verlinde then: “What you hear today is of course somewhat in line with how the two parties are trying to influence public opinion in the courtroom and the media. Until this time there were always vague reports about what had happened, but now it has suddenly become very concrete and actually nauseatingly concrete.”
Family man
How come this suddenly leaked? Albert: “The victim benefits from being made public in this way, otherwise Marco Borsato will only appear as family man walk into that courtroom and we all think: yes, it’s not about anything, is it?”
Marco is increasingly positioning himself as a family man. “I think it’s a kind of strategy. Jada also recently had a performance and Marco was there, and there was suddenly the top photographer from Page Privé who photographed him there. Well, that’s no coincidence. It looks a bit like he’s going to be portrayed as: the family is behind me.”
No contact
Does Albert have contact with Marco? “No one has had any contact with him in recent years. At the time this happened, it had been going around for a long time that there was a case with the victim’s mother, who ran the fan club. At some point, sand got into the mill and then the accusations came.”
He continues: “In the beginning everyone thought: no, that is a woman who now has something against Marco because he dropped her. But this case eventually comes out.”
Son of a bitch
Albert has worked a lot with Marco, also around charities. “It was also a physical man, you know? It’s a hugger, but I really don’t dare say anything about it, because if what it says is true, then it is horrible and you should simply be punished.”
Is he in Camp Marco? No, he says. “I really want to remain the outsider. I once sent him a message saying: ‘I sympathize with you, but I know: if it’s true, then you’re an asshole.’ I did send that.”
Not retarded
It’s double for Albert, because he doesn’t want to let Marco fall either. “On the one hand, you have to stand with someone you know, because I don’t think you’re worth a wink if you drop someone on unproven suspicions, that’s not right, but hey, we’ll see next week.”
He’s not sure. “John van den Heuvel is not retarded either. He would certainly not stand behind the victim if he did not think that something was honestly going on.”