It’s not often that a TV channel suspends one of its most-watched programs mid-season. Yet RTL decided to do that on Saturday with The Voice of Holland – the talent show with which the station invariably achieves the top 5 most watched programs of the day. RTL was confronted with reports of abuses behind the scenes.
The stories came to light through research by the BNNVARA program ANGRY, which says it has received “numerous reactions” from people who say they are victims of or witness to abuse of power and sexually transgressive behavior on The Voice of Holland. Orchestra leader Jeroen Rietbergen confirmed saturday having had sexual contacts with ‘women involved in the programme’. The Voice coach and rapper Ali B is also the subject of the BOOS investigation, which says it will come out with more details in Thursday’s broadcast. A major sponsor of the program, telecom provider T-Mobile, announced on Sunday at RTL Boulevard know to discontinue sponsorship from the current season. And singer Anouk announced on her Instagram page on Sunday afternoon that she would stop as a jury member of the program.
Vulnerable position
In The Voice of Holland, co-created by John de Mol and launched in 2010, the often young participants find themselves in a potentially vulnerable position. They are at the beginning of their career, as experienced artists from the music industry guide them in their battle for the top. Whoever wins the talent show can call themselves ‘the voice’ of the Netherlands, receives a record contract, a car and a cash prize, and is assured of at least a year of media attention and performances.
In such an environment there is a risk of transgressive behaviour. Orchestra leader Jeroen Rietbergen states in his statement that he was severely addressed a few years ago about his behavior “by my client”. He does not say who the client is.
But RTL and production company ITV say they have not been informed of his misbehavior before. Talpa Media, the production company that according to ITV was responsible for the talent show until 2020, neither confirms nor denies that Rietbergen reported his missteps to them.
Since 2007, Rietbergen has maintained a relationship with presenter and actress Linda de Mol, the sister of Talpa founder John de Mol. De Mol sold his company to British ITV in March 2015, but remained involved in his hit show The Voice of Holland via Talpa Media until January 2020. The media magnate does not want to respond to NRC questions about whether and when he was informed by Rietbergen or Talpa Media.
Karin de Groot, the current chairman of the board of ITV Netherlands, says that she was only confronted with the case this week. ITV has been the producer of The Voice.
“We are shocked by these allegations. Our highest priority is to provide a safe and supportive environment for everyone who participates in – or works on – our shows and ITV Studios has a zero-tolerance policy on the kind of behavior it is said to have. happened,” she says. ITV has launched an investigation into the matter.
De Groot declined to comment on the matter. “We are now waiting for the investigation,” she says. That Rietbergen has not reported anything to ITV or RTL, she explains as follows. “It can be compared to the behavior of a burglar. He will only confess something after he has been caught, right?” she says.
De Groot himself worked at Talpa TV until the summer of 2018 and was responsible for the programming of SBS 6, Net 5 and SBS 9. “I never heard anything about it then. This apparently happened at the Talpa Media production department,” she says.
Raids
Dissatisfaction has arisen at RTL about a lack of openness on the part of Talpa. Spokesperson Kim Koppenol says that he has been “overwhelmed” by the allegations. These concern not only the orchestra boss, but also coach Ali B. A complaint has been made to the Public Prosecution Service against Ali B of sexually transgressive behavior, an accusation that the rapper denies.
Bart Swier, Ali B’s lawyer who specializes in sex crimes, says he does not know the contents of the report. He is aware of the accusation made against the rapper in the upcoming broadcast of BOOS. The problem is that the accusation is anonymous and so sketchy, vague and long ago that we cannot defend ourselves against it. NRC.
At the beginning of last month, singer and former The Voice coach Marco Borsato was also charged with sexual abuse. According to newspaper coverage The Telegraph, that has seen the declaration, this declaration does not concern a participant of The Voice. However, there have been rumors in the tabloid press for some time that the singer was guilty of transgressive behavior during one of the barbecues that Borsato organized annually for the singers who chose him as a coach in The Voice of Holland and The Voice Kids. It is not yet clear whether BOOS will come out with more details about those allegations in Thursday’s broadcast.
Read about The Villa: Victims of a suggestive bedroom scene (2020)
Ethical Standards
It is not the first time that RTL has stopped broadcasting after allegations of sexually inadmissible behaviour. Reality programs The Villa, Temptation Island and Love Island were temporarily suspended after it turned out that a participant in De Villa had committed cross-border acts. RTL then had an investigation carried out by Hoffman company detectives. He established that no criminal offenses had been committed during the filming of De Villa. RTL announced in response to the investigation that it would draw up a protocol with “stronger ethical standards”.
When asked whether the protocol with The Voice has been violated, Koppenol refuses to respond. “It’s now up to the researchers.”
ITV boss Karin De Groot, in response to the circumstances on the set of De Villa at It Financial Newspaper know that ITV has ‘a good ethical compass’ in the production of programmes. “We still have that compass. Nothing has changed in that regard now,” she says. She does not want to anticipate adjustments in the workplace. “First we need to know the facts.”
Talpa does not want to comment on the case and also does not want to explain why the case was not previously reported to producer ITV and RTL. “We are extremely shocked by the allegations and the circumstances as described by BOOS. The bottom stone must come up. Of course we are fully cooperating with this”, responds Paul Römer, radio and television director at Talpa.
The Voice presenter Chantal Janzen lashes out on Instagram on Sunday at parties that have known about cross-border behavior at the talent show for some time: “To the parties and to the people who have apparently known about the nauseating practices at The Voice for about 10 years. , they kept silent and covered up, but now the press are responding with ‘we are very shocked’: please leave these words for the victims.” She does not want to give any explanation to NRC.
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