Entertainment

Dutch YouTube star NikkieTutorials came out as transgender in a video posted on Monday. She said that she always wanted to share her story, but under her own circumstances, and she did not expect to do so this week. But people have been blackmailing her and threatening to leak her story in the press, she said, calling their actions "vile" and "gross". 

Producer and actor Aart Staartjes died at the age of 81 from injuries he sustained in a car accident in Leeuwarden on Friday. Staartjes was rushed to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries. The police are investigating the causes of the accident, NOS reports.

A majority in the Amsterdam city council wants to implement a general ban on consumer fireworks in the city. The local faction of VVD announced its support on Wednesday. GroenLinks, PvdA, and PvdD previously announced their support. Together the four parties have 24 of the 45 seats in the city council, NU.nl reports.

The Amsterdam VVD said that it must "unfortunately" support a ban. "We are very disappointed by the misery [fireworks] cause. A small group of people are ruining it for the rest," the party said.

A circus performer who was seriously injured on Friday after falling some 10 meters with her husband during a performance in the Carre theater, posted an update of her condition for the first time. She underwent two surgeries on her neck and is now out of intensive care. "We have not yet received a definitive diagnosis from the doctors, it will take time. But at the moment, I cannot feel my legs," she wrote on Facebook.

A fall of around 10 meters that left two circus performers injured in the Carre theater in Amsterdam on Friday, was caused by one of the performers breaking a tooth, World Christmas Circus producer Henk van der Meijden told De Telegraaf and ANP. 

A massive 77 million euros worth of fireworks were sold in the Netherlands for New Year's Eve 2019, according to interest association Pyrotechnics Netherlands. That is 10 percent more than in 2010, and a new record, NU.nl reports.

The previous record of 74 million euros dated from 2008 and 2009.

Dutch-language crime series Undercover was the most popular program among Netflix viewers in the Netherlands, the streaming video service revealed on Monday. It topped other top five contenders 6 Underground, starring Ryan Reynolds, and Murder Mystery, with Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston.

Season three of Spanish crime series La Casa de papel ranked fourth in the Netherlands, followed by Martin Scorsese film The Irishman. The latter, released a month ago, stars Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and Al Pacino.

The annual Christmas speech by King Willem-Alexander from his residential palace Huis ten Bosch was watched by over 1.5 million people in its various broadcasts on Wednesday, according to figures from Stichting Kijkonderzoek, AD reports.

NPO Radio 2 kicked off the Top 2000 on Christmas Day, an annual music marathon broadcasting the country's selection of the two thousand best songs of all time. The annual Dutch tradition kicked off Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. with the 1969 Crosby, Stills & Nash hit, "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes".

Video entertainment firms operating in the Netherlands will be required to invest at least three percent of their total revenue generated in the Netherlands in the production and co-production of Dutch films, series, animated video and documentaries in a new proposal put forward by Minister Ingrid van Engelshoven. The plan affects all cinemas, streaming services and broadcasters operating in the Netherlands, and matches similar regulations in neighboring countries Belgium, France and Germany, according to the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.

The media use in the Netherlands is gradually shifting along with the rise of online media services like Netflix, but traditional forms of entertainment and media consumption like television and newspaper are still most popular, according social and cultural planning office SCP. Concerts even attracted a record number of visitors last year, Statistics Netherlands reported.