A month after the huge media riot about his boa statements, Özcan Akyol still has no regrets. “I think that boas are not very mentally resilient,” sneers the Today Inside star.
The image of boas has been under severe pressure since they were completely ridiculed in Today Inside by, in particular, Özcan Akyol. Many boas felt hurt by the statements and point out that there is already a lack of respect for their office. They have to deal with a lot of aggression and violence during their daily work.
‘It was intense’
Özcan nevertheless does not regret what he said about boas, he says The Friday Move. “I’ve had that message for ten years, but sometimes it hits harder than other times.”
Host Wilfred Genee: “You had a lot of problems with those boas, right?”
Özcan: “It was very intense for two weeks, yes. It is not the most… The group is not mentally resilient, let me put it that way.”
Complimentary
Wilfred thinks that Özcan has provoked it a bit. “You weren’t very complimentary either, if I’m being completely honest.”
Özcan: “It was absurdist humor.”
Wilfred: “The boa had to disappear forever. That’s what it came down to.”
Özcan: “If I say: ‘We shouldn’t arm boas, otherwise they will shoot us all,’ then you know that it is an absurd comment.”
Take seriously
It’s all being taken far too seriously, Özcan thinks. “To take it so seriously… Really, the problem these days: we take everything very seriously.”
According to him, the same applies to Caroline van der Plas, who took offense to his statements about her ex-husband. “That journalist is free to write it down and we are free to pass it on. The fact that she reacts so strongly to that… People should just judge that.”