Angela de Jong believes that Matthijs van Nieuwkerk deserves a spanking for the photos that accompanied his big sorry interview in NRC. “It was really ridiculous, come on!”
The analyzes about Matthijs van Nieuwkerk’s big sorry interview are already over. So time to rest for the fallen DWDD star. Relax at De Hoofdige Boer. Or not? Suddenly he is shocked by Hilversum. Angela de Jong snaps at the presenter for being ridiculous.
Hat and dog
Angela thinks it’s ridiculous that there were all kinds of hysterically vain photos in Matthijs’ sorry interview. Then again with a hat, then again with a dog, then again throwing his hat at the dog. All those tricks are very nice, but this is of course his big sorry interview and not The All-Kunner VIPS.
Those victims of Matthijs also find this terrible, Angela explains in the AD Media podcast. “They are all quite cynical. They laughed somewhat cynically about the dog. At least, the ones I spoke to, of course I didn’t speak to them all. They also thought: yes, of course he had to say this, but to what extent does he mean this?”
‘It distracts’
AD media journalist Dennis Jansen finds Matthijs clumsy. “I don’t know if you should wear a hat like that, you know? Stuff like that, you know? I think that’s just distracting.”
Angela is really pissed off about it. “Those photos were really ridiculous, come on.”
Her right-hand man Marcus den Blanken is milder: “I always find that a bit of a hassle.”
Dennis: “It’s a small thing, but it’s distracting.”
Red sweatpants
Dennis is also the journalist who did the Matthijs interview two years ago that included those strange wanderer photos. “It was a really nice interview, but then he had on red Adidas track pants and a hat and then he was in a long coat. And well, no one talks about the interview anymore, but everyone remembers what that photo was.”
So images say a lot, Dennis wants to say. Marcus: “But yes, I never understand the problem with that. Let that man wear what he wants to wear.”
Dennis: “But it is distracting.”
Angela bloodlink
Then Angela gets really pissed off. Marcus shouldn’t have said that. “That’s not what it’s about, Mark,” she says in a very strict tone. “It’s about what you want to convey with that interview. You want to convey: mea culpa, I was an asshole. Then, to support that image, you expect black and white photos of someone close-up.”
You expect plenty of grayscale and difficult facial lines, says Angela. “From the wrinkles on his face. I’ll just name a few. But not him with a dog on a path wearing a strange hat, like: look at me.”
‘Think!’
Matthijs has to use his brains, says Angela. “You’re going along with it too, right? You think about what you want to put down, right? You don’t always have to do what the photographer asks of you. You can also say: I don’t feel like doing this anymore.”
She concludes: “It is too easy to ignore the fact that image and text support each other and that you create something together that evokes a certain image. And this does not fit the content of that interview.”
NRC interview
Matthijs and his hat: