(The Hague) Dutch television producer John de Mol, “inventor” of reality TV with Big Brother in 1999, was in the hot seat on Thursday following a splashy sex scandal The Voice of Holland, another of his creations.
Posted at 3:07 p.m.
John de Mol has admitted to being made aware in 2019 of inappropriate messages sent to a candidate by the leader of the group of The Voice of Holland, without taking any action.
The 66-year-old billionaire said he was “shocked” after learning about numerous other sexual assault allegations around the show, and felt “personally responsible”, while insisting he didn’t had not “hid the dust under the rug”.
The original version of The Voice was suspended last weekend after the sexual assault charges.
The scandal took on new proportions on Thursday with the broadcast on YouTube of a program sharing even more accusations by a local broadcaster called BOOS (“anger”, in French).
A former candidate notably anonymously accused rapper Ali B, coach on the show, of rape.
PHOTO FROM THE ARTIST’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Rapper Ali B
Nineteen women also reported to “BOOS” bullying sexual behavior against the show’s band leader Jeroen Rietbergen, who was the spouse of John de Mol’s sister Linda.
Broadcaster RTL has sacked Ali B, who denies the allegations, after it emerged two sexual assault complaints had been filed with prosecutors.
” Shocked “
The allegations have thrown into turmoil the original version of the show, whose principle – coaches on swivel chairs choose the candidates after listening to them sing “blindly” – has been declined all over the world.
The entertainment mogul told BOOS he was made aware in April 2019 of claims by a contestant that Mr Rietbergen had sent her inappropriate messages on WhatsApp.
Mr de Mol said he was then “furious” with the leader of the group, but took no action because it was only an allegation about messages.
“Everyone deserves a second chance,” he said of his former brother-in-law, whom he worked with for almost 11 years.
But the scale of the new allegations had left him “in shock”.
“I feel absolutely responsible. That don’t mean I saw it and glossed over it […] people have been injured, there are casualties and the interests of those people come first,” he said.
terrible nightmare
Mr Rietbergen, 50, has since resigned from the show, admitting “contact of a sexual nature with women involved in the program and sexual WhatsApp messages”.
The leader of the group The Voice said he initially thought he hadn’t abused his position of power before realizing that “the perception of the women affected” was far more relevant than his own.
Presenter Linda de Mol, who was in a relationship with Mr Rietbergen, announced this week that she was leaving him and would stop working because of this “terrible nightmare”.
The show contestant who was allegedly raped by Ali B told BOOS in a distorted voice that the attack took place eight years ago when he started kissing her after showing her around the studio.
“I felt it was so powerful that I thought, whatever you want has to happen now,” she said.
One of the show’s coaches, Anouk, also resigned this week, calling the show a “corrupt gang”.
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte called the allegations against the show “unacceptable” and called for a full investigation.
Mr. de Mol, who also created Big Brother, in 2015 sold the format to British production company ITV.
ITV Studios said in a statement that it had a “zero tolerance policy towards the type of behavior that allegedly took place” and had launched an investigation.