This past week, the Netherlands has been shaken by a developing sexual assault scandal surrounding the popular television show, The Voice of Holland. Last night, the series BOOS, released its episode investigating the matter.
And things are even worse than initially thought.
Dozens of women
In the show, BOOS (a show that usually investigates dodgy landlords, scammers, and bad tattoo artists), it was revealed that dozens of women had been assaulted by employees on the show.
The allegations include unwanted texts, groping, touching, and rape, the NOS reports.
Another offender
Last weekend, the news broke that three men in positions of power on The Voice of Holland — rapper and judge, Ali B, vocal coach Marco Borsato, and bandleader Jeroen Rietbergen — were all accused of sexual misconduct towards participants on the show.
Now, another man has been accused. It is known that he is a director of the show, however, for now, his name has not been released. No less than 15 reports have been made against the man who is said to have made inappropriate comments and was “pawing” at female contestants.
Insight into the assaults
The show also revealed more information about the assaults made. Ali B currently has two charges set against him — one for rape.
Ex-candidates spoke of the way he would treat them, saying that he would suddenly kiss the contestants when in his home or in dressing rooms and in one case, he arrived unannounced at the home of a candidate.
One woman spoke of how he suddenly kissed her and when she stiffened from the assault, he raped her.
Minors involved
More information surrounding the allegations against Marco Borsato has also come out. Six women from The Voice of Holland came forward to say that the ex-coach touched them inappropriately, three of these women would have been minors at the time.
And that’s not all. Borsato is also accused of touching three participants from The Voice Kids. The parents of the children confirmed to BOOS that this happened during a barbeque that he organised for the participants.
More women come forward about Rietbergen
BOOS also had a whopping 19 women come forward to make allegations against the bandleader of the show, Jeroen Rietbergen. Last week, it was revealed that he had previous allegations made against him in 2019 — however, RTL claims that they had no knowledge of this.
The women spoke on the show about his transgressive behaviour, detailing how he would send them unwanted messages, sometimes including pictures of his penis. In these messages, he would also suggest that the candidates should wear sexy clothes and that he should share a hotel room with the candidates.
Rietbergen is also accused of assaulting one candidate in his studio. He has since admitted that he displayed sexually transgressive behaviour but denies ever assaulting someone.
Media company takes out full page ad in the paper
Employees of the media company, Talpa, have responded to one particular interview in the show. When talking about the assaults, the creator of the show, John de Mol said “It is a broader problem that women do not report such matters quickly than only to the Voice.”
This did not go down well with many, and the women of the media company decided to take out a full-page advert in the AD, which read:
“Dear John, it’s not the women — greetings, the women from your company.” 💪
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