Unbelievable that casting agency did not know of director's sexual harassment: fmr assistant
Guido Goossens, former assistant to Dutch director and producer Job Gosschalk, can not believe that Kemna Casting was unaware that Gosscalk sexually harassed young actors, he said to newspaper AD. "What I can say, in all honesty, is that rumors then too went around in the world", he said to the newspaper.
Gosschalk was casting director at Kemna Casting up until 2008, and then director and producer at Kemna & Zonen. He resigned early this month after being confronted with sexual harassment and intimidation accusations from numerous actors. When he announced his resignation, Gosschalk acknowledged that he "crossed boundaries" in his one-on-one dealings with actors, and emphasized that his colleagues at Kemna Casting and Kemna & Zonen did not know about his behavior. Kemna Casting continues to insist that nobody knew.
But according to Goossens, that's not true. "I can not imagine that what did not escape me, escaped others. If all Kemna Casting employees claim they knew nothing about it, I find that very unbelievable", he said to AD.
As example, Goossens told the newspaper about a time when Gosschalk hired a bodyguard for several days after a conflict with a 'client'. "Unfortunately I can not deny this: there was indeed an official security guard with Job at the office for a few days. He was threatened by a boy of of around 20, I suspect Turkish or Moroccan. What exactly was going on, was not clear to me, but the boy came to the office for redress and had hatred in his eyes. His honor was affected. Job was visibly emotional and scared." Exactly what was going on may not have been clear, but something obviously was.
Goossens kept his silence. "At the time I did not know what to think, because nobody came with proof. I only heard rumors. Until now I did not tell my story, because initially I was not aware enough of the potential suffering and grief that affected so many people." But he decided to come forward now. "Because I can never look those actors and myself in the eyes again if I should say: I had no idea."
