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Dutch TV presenter Mart Smeets (77) has apologized after his participation in a TV documentary. In it, he denies the allegations of a woman who accuses him of inappropriate behavior and says he is “quite courteous” to women.
The fuss revolves around Outside the Image, a Dutch documentary that will be broadcast on Monday evening in response to a report on the work culture at the Dutch public broadcaster NPO. That report was written, among other things, after reports of misconduct in the workplace at De Wereld Draait Door, the popular talk show that Matthijs Van Nieuwkerk presented for fifteen years, but also at Studio Sport. That TV program was presented by Mart Smeets for a long time.
Smeets was accused of inappropriate behavior last year by former NOS Sport presenter Aïcha Marghadi. She was allegedly embarrassed by him when she arrived at the newsroom. Smeets allegedly raised her hand in the air, she says, after which he said out loud that he wondered “what to do with that now.” She also lashed out at presenters Jack van Gelder and Tom Egbers. Together with Smeets and the editorial staff of the NOS, they would lead a “racist, intimidating and humiliating power culture”, she believes.
Irritated
In the fragment from the documentary that has already been posted online, Smeets again denies those allegations – he claims not to remember – and even becomes irritated by the questions he receives about them. “I can’t imagine that that has been said and I think it is a non-topic for this program. Finished. Finished. That you want to continue with that… I can’t remember. I don’t know who it is anymore. I can’t imagine saying it a) to a living person and b) certainly not to a woman.” He is then asked whether gender makes a difference. “Yes, I think so, because I am quite courteous to women.”
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That fragment immediately caused a lot of irritation among viewers on social media. Smeets is dismissed as “arrogant” and “the biggest jellyfish in the Netherlands”. The criticism reached such proportions that Smeets apologized to the documentary makers on Monday. “He contacted the makers and apologized” says a spokesperson for the public broadcaster NTR, on which the documentary will be broadcast. “He is shocked by his own reaction to Coen Verbraak’s questions.”
