Talpa does take a ‘hard’ distance from ‘the way in which he wanted to make his point clear, and how the response was subsequently dealt with and the subject was dealt with’, Louwerens said in a statement. According to Louwerens, the choice to stop was exclusively with Derksen, but it has now become clear to the commentator ‘that even the biggest critics think that a program like Today Inside should have a place in the Dutch media landscape.’
Yesterday Derksen already said that the program would return. 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’. Talpa then held back and called reports of a return ‘premature’.
‘slip’
Derksen received a storm of criticism two weeks ago, after he told in 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, had exaggerated the story and thereby committed a ‘slip’. According to Louwerens, he has thus clearly distanced himself from what he said earlier.
‘As a result of the broadcast, many pulled their hands off Johan’, says Louwerens. ‘Radio stations, theaters and, in his opinion, also Talpa.’ Derksen was in fact critical of the press release that Talpa issued in which his apologies were announced. Talpa celebrity Paul Römer also spoke in the radio program Speech makers publicly that Derksen had crossed borders. But according to Louwerens, Talpa Derksen did not cancel and that was made clear to him.
Advertising Euros
Louwerens: ‘Today Inside remains a program where, among other things, discussions and conversations about various (sensitive) topics are held in public.’
Between 800 and 900,000 people watch the program every day. Niels van Altena, former sales director of the Ster, calculated it FD once how many advertising dollars that generates. He came in at 65 thousand euros per episode. But whether Talpa and SBS will be able to redistribute such an amount is still open to question. Sponsors such as Toto and Stella Cycling withdrew the day after Derksen’s statements.
In the meantime, there is still an investigation 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’, the Public Prosecution Service wrote in a press release† Those involved were invited to tell their story.