The government took action on new accusations about “The Voice of Holland”, which is the Dutch version of the talent contest broadcast in Turkey under the name “O Ses Türkiye” and whose broadcast was temporarily stopped due to allegations of sexual abuse against female contestants.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte urged those who receive signals of sexually offensive behavior to take immediate action.
Günay Uslu, Minister of State for Culture and Media, will meet with the producers and broadcasters of the program and will endeavor to eliminate the conditions in which women feel unsafe.
The broadcast of The Voice of Holland, prepared by the famous Dutch production company De Mol and broadcast on the private channel RTL since 2010, was suspended last week due to allegations of sexual harassment and abuse of power against female contestants.
The producer company also stopped accessing the past recordings of the program.
The conductor of the competition, Jeroen Rietbergen, accepted the allegations against him and announced that he was leaving the program.
Two separate applications were filed against the Moroccan rapper Ali B., who was the “singer coach” in the competition, to the prosecutor’s office on charges of sexual harassment and rape.
Following the allegations made in the program “Boos” broadcast on public broadcaster NOS, the prosecutor’s office called on all victims of harassment to file a complaint.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte, addressing all women on the allegations of harassment on the “That Voice Netherlands” program, said, “When you encounter sexually offensive behavior, act immediately, without waiting for someone to say ‘things are going wrong here’.”
Rutte emphasized that the prevention of sexual assault against women is one of the most important problems.
The Minister of State for Culture and Media, Günay Uslu, decided to meet with all producers and broadcasters, especially De Mol, the producer of the program, in order for women to have a safe working environment.
Emphasizing that the developments experienced are not the fault of women, Uslu stated that the responsibility in this matter belongs to men.
‘Women should know they are not alone’
Stressing that she is tired of women having to work in unsafe conditions, Minister Uslu said, “This is very painful and unacceptable. It has such an impact on security and freedom that it really needs to change. Women are so vulnerable that they do not dare to talk about it.”
Dilan Yeşilgöz, Minister of Security and Justice, regarding the allegations of harassment. “It’s not women’s fault, women should know they’re not alone,” she said. Yeşilgöz said that he would do his best to ensure that the law, which criminalizes all sexual contact without the consent of the person, enters into force as soon as possible.
Defense Minister Kasja Ollongren, one of the female members of the government, also evaluated the events with the words, “It is terrible that this can still happen in the Netherlands in 2022.”
Willy van Berlo, director of the Rutgers Foundation Program against Sexual Violence, stressed that victims are often embarrassed or blamed by others.
Jens van Tricht, founder of the Freedom Movement, also told public broadcaster NOS that it is not enough to combat the culture where it is considered normal for men to hunt women for sex and action should be taken only if women are alarmed.
The producer of the program, John de Mol, said on the Boos program, “We can’t do anything if nobody says anything,” implying that women are guilty. The female employees of De Mol’s production company, Talpa, placed a full-page newspaper advertisement and called, “This is not the fault of women, it is the responsibility of men.”
Public and private radio stations in the Netherlands decided not to play the songs of jury member and singer coach Ali B., who was fired due to sexual harassment allegations, and Marco Borsato, who was a jury member until 2015 and was accused of harassment.
The Mademe Tussauds Wax Museum in Amsterdam has also removed images of Ali B. and Borsato, the target of harassment accusations.
Developed by De Mol, The Voice of Holland began to be published in more than a hundred countries, mainly in the USA and England, under the name The Voice. The Voice came to the screens in Turkey with the name “O Ses Türkiye”.