‘Today Inside back on TV’. Talpa calls that reporting ‘premature’

Johan Derksen in the Today Inside studio.Statue Patrick van Ernst / Brunopress

Against it AD says Johan Derksen that he did not stop because of the national consternation or his credibility, but because of the lack of support from Talpa. Talpacoryfee Paul Römer was on radio program Speech makers critical of Derksen and in a press release it was announced that Derksen would apologize. Derksen was not charmed by that. After a conversation with John de Mol, Erland Galjaard and Marco Louwerens, it became clear that all parties wish to continue with the program, says Derksen. According to Talpa, there is no definitive answer yet. The broadcaster calls the reporting ‘premature’.

“We had a good conversation with the men last Sunday to look back in peace on the past few weeks and what happened,” said a brief statement from a Talpa Network spokesperson. ‘As soon as there is more news to report, we will come back to this from SBS6.’

Two weeks ago Johan Derksen announced that he would stop, after which Wilfred Genee and René van der Gijp declared their solidarity with him. Derksen received a storm of criticism after he told an anecdote that fifty years ago he penetrated a drunk, sleeping woman with a candle. At the table, René van der Gijp and Steven Brunswijk laughed hard at the story. Later Derksen adapted his story. He stated that he had only put the candle between the woman’s legs. Between 800 and 900,000 people watched the program every day.

Derksen says he is overloaded with statements of support: ‘I am inundated with e-mails, letters, flowers and cigars.’ According to him, the public is that Today Inside a warm heart from a larger group than ‘the cancel and woke movement’ that ‘makes a lot of noise’.

Derksen has already announced his departure more often

Derksen has already said several times to stop with the program, but each time he just stayed on the tube. In the summer of 2020, there was a lot of fuss after Derksen compared a protester dressed as a black Piet with rapper Akwasi. In response, Derksen stated that he no longer wanted to participate in the program. Talpa was not interested in that, according to Derksen at the time. He was ‘held by his contract’. In 2017 he told story to continue for one more year and then to stop. And last year he said against AD that he wants to permanently stop making television in the summer of 2022. ‘I’ve been doing the same trick for 24 years, but it’s getting to me. I find myself getting more and more on autopilot.’

“They like to have me at the table, because I get involved in everything,” he said of his talk show appearances. ‘That gives a stir, doesn’t it. I am being exploited. It’s going to disappoint me. All those famous Dutch people in all those programs, they just keep popping up.’

Radio program, theater show and blues festival without Derksen

Should the program return definitively, that does not mean that Derksen’s agenda will look the same as before. Radio West, Radio Rijnmond and RTV Noord-Holland have stopped their radio program. His theater show and blues festival in Grolloo also ended his collaboration with Derksen.

An investigation is also underway from the Public Prosecution Service into Derksen’s actions. That “is aimed at establishing the truth of possible criminal behavior that was discussed in that program,” it wrote OM in a press release† Those involved were invited to tell their story.

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