Olcay Gulsen states that Today Inside really wants her back on the show, despite the fact that she has called Wierd Duk a ‘passionate racist’. “They have already invited me three times.”
We haven’t seen Olcay Gulsen at the table at Today Inside since she called Wierd Duk, Johan Derksen’s favorite guest, a ‘passionate racist’. A week later, Johan lashed out at Olcay for the first time, with whom he seemed to have a lot of chemistry until then. “I actually think Olcay is a, erm… chatty gold digger.”
Olcay responds
It has been taken a bit out of context, Olcay believes. “It was something different, because Johan Derksen said about Wierd that he was a passionate journalist and I followed that. So it’s not like I was calling him a passionate racist. I mean: I think his statements are absolutely racist and I also think it’s fine that Johan Derksen doesn’t think so.”
She continues in the radio show MISCHA: “I mean, I like that, that we can both have different opinions. For me, the point is not that I necessarily have to have a different opinion, but that we can respect each other’s opinions.”
Does she have any regrets?
Did Olcay regret her statement after the broadcast? “I really don’t think about that for a second. No, I honestly thought the comments he made were racist. I thought he was tarring an entire population group with the same brush and not adding any nuance to it.”
“I think I had to respond to that. Just as well as he is allowed to make that statement. I’m not trying to silence him, but I certainly don’t want to be silenced either.”
Moroccans
Wierd’s statements criticized by Olcay are about anti-Semitism. “That it is in the genes of Moroccans. He simply said ‘to all Moroccans’, that it is taught to them at a young age. My dentist is Moroccan, I have had lawyers who are Moroccan.”
“I think you just insult those people to the core, because they are really very liberal people. They simply have Western ideas. I find it strange that you dare to say that they are not secular. I don’t feel addressed, because it is not about me, but about many people I know and that is what bothers me.”
‘I don’t care’
What does Olcay think of Johan now calling her a chatty gold digger? “Johan Derksen then responds to it and says very personal things about me, yes, that really doesn’t interest me. Then I think: it’s just not true, so I won’t let myself talk about it.”
Does she fear that VI doesn’t want her anymore? “No, not at all, even if they never invite me again, that really doesn’t matter to me. I’m really not driving around the Media Park here. I think they invited me two or three more times in one month after that, but I just happened to not be able to come. I think I’ll be there again next week.”
Independent
Olcay would laugh at a boycott by VI. “I’m mentally and financially independent, you know, and that helps a lot. If you are not dependent on a broadcaster or a TV program, then you are in a different position.”
Why is she even there? “I think it’s a nice talk show. I think it is the best talk show on Dutch television. Otherwise I wouldn’t sit there. Every time I leave, even if there have been serious discussions, I always have a nice evening. I also think I fit in, because I don’t have much of a filter. I’m not censored there or anything.”