It is undeniable that Today Inside is the most vulgar talk show in the Netherlands, but doesn’t it sometimes go a little too far? And can Özcan Akyol perhaps influence this?
It is the trademark of Today Inside: making vulgar jokes and pranks, but also showing vulgar videos with dangling genitals. And not just once or twice, but some of those videos are repeated dozens of times. Is all this still possible? In any case, a reader of Özcan Akyol’s letters column is done with it.
Gross bastard
Özcan is a regular guest in the SBS 6 talk show and is asked by Mr. Harry to intervene in his VARAgids column. “I watch Today Inside less and less often because of the vulgar level. Eus and Raymond Mens are exceptions. I looked again last week. Heard enough after five minutes,” this viewer fumes.
Mr. Harry finds the language in particular offensive. What kind of things does he hear passing by? “Greak bastard, c*nt, cunt, bitch passed by. Do you ever say anything about that?” he asks Özcan.
Out of the bend
So all this viewer’s hopes are pinned on Özcan, but alas. “No, I won’t say anything about that, it’s their vocabulary,” the TV personality responds. “Besides, this is a workers’ magazine, I grew up among the factories in Deventer. There was no other talk there. I learned to swear on the street.”
He continues: “When I play football with my friends in Deventer, for example, we also talk that way. I also hear that things sometimes go awry. You are right about that. But then those men correct themselves.”
Too conservative
Another reader of the VARA guide complains about the right-wing shift in Dutch current affairs and opinion programs. This Bart says: “Only Nieuwsuur still matters. The rest is a kind of snappy carnival journalism. ‘Your’ Today Inside takes precedence in this regard. Laughing, screaming and in the meantime criticizing everything that is a bit left-wing.”
According to Özcan, you can’t look at this on Today Inside. “You are comparing apples and oranges. Today Inside belongs to the commercial broadcaster and therefore it has nothing to do with the inability of the public broadcaster to launch a relevant talk show.”
Classic worker
Today Inside is more entertainment than current affairs. That is more of a task for the NPO, Özcan thinks. “The fact that it is no longer possible to reach progressive people may also be due to the fact that makers, often from Amsterdam’s elite bubble, are completely alienated from the classic worker.”
He concludes: “It is easy to blame others, but we see that important issues such as social security, housing and care are tackled in a clumsy way by the left – or what passes for it.”