Far-right Baudet again accused of racism
FvD leader Thierry Baudet definitely participated in the "racist slime" in the party's chat groups, former FvD parliamentarian Theo Hiddema said on Jinek. Baudet participated in chat discussions that linked race and IQ, among other things, and that was one of the reasons Hiddema left the party, he said on the television program.
Hiddema said that he intervened in those chat discussions. He later left the FvD over anti-Semitic messages sent in chat groups of the party's youth division JFvD. That happened before Baudet's messages surfaced in February, but Hiddema knew about it at the time. "That is why I walked away from there then," he said, adding that there are more important things than "those games".
Like after the messages were made public, Baudet refused to confirm or deny on Jinek that he was the one who sent them. But he did deny that he was a racist. According to Baudet, Hiddema's use of the word "slime" referred to the media fuss about the messages and that the word "games" endorses that it was a joke.
Hiddema's words should therefore be taken with a grain of salt, Baudet said, adding that he still considers Hiddema a friend. He also said that he is not obliged to disclose what he does or does not say in private situations and accused Jinek of "digging up old skeletons".
Baudet also left the Jinek studio before the end of the show after a roast by Martijn Koning. The comedian said that all the anti-Semites who will vote for Baudet will feel real betrayed if Baudet's girlfriend, who is Jewish according to Koning, would have a child.
Hiddema also reacted negatively to the broadcast, according to NU.nl. According to him, the montage left out a positive statement he made about Baudet. "Apparently it was not mentioned that I also said that I got to know Baudet as a carefree human child who is too cheerful to treat people badly because of a tan. Such narrow-mindedness is strange to him."
In a statement on Friday, RTL the editors of Jinek, said that they regretted Koning's performance. The broadcaster wrote that Koning refused, "despite repeated requests from the editorial staff", to allow access to the text he planned to use on the show. The editors should have decided to scrap his performance, RTL said. "We are sorry that it turned out like this and that the viewer and table guests were confronted with this."
