Soccer expert Johan Derksen is again causing outrage with racist remarks

Johan Derksen has once again caused a stir with racist statements in Voetbal Inside. In response to an interview with black parliamentarian Habtamu de Hoop about preserving the Frisian language, Derksen said with a laugh: "He's not Frisian, come on." And: "I'm not Surinamese, am I?" The statements are unlikely to be punishable, but he is breaking the limits of the law, experts told RTL Nieuws.

GroenLinks-PvdA MP De Hoop was born in Ethiopia and adopted by a Friesian couple when he was 8 months old. He grew up in Wommels. He spoke about preserving the Frisian language in an interview with SBS on Tuesday. "Bilingually educated people can even speak Dutch better," De Hoop said in an article about Friesland, which will receive 18 million euros to encourage the use of the Frisian language. "It also helps with the use of the Dutch language. We can do so many wonderful things with it.”

On Tuesday night on Voetbal Inside, Derksen responded to the interview saying that De Hoop shouldn't talk like that. "Anyone born in Friesland has the right to talk about it like that." Presenter Wilfred Genee pointed out that De Hoop has Friesian parents. Derksen said, "Yes, but he's not a Friesian, is he? Don't bother." Genee replied with a laugh, "He speaks it really well." - a commonly used microaggression against people of color.

De Hoop responded to the remarks made on X's football program. "I grew up in Friesland as the child of two Frisian parents. I grew up playing handball and skating and the less fun things that come with farm life. I entered politics because I wanted to give other young people opportunities. In fact, I don't have much time or interest in this nonsense."

"Don't let anyone tell you who you are or where you belong. No one, never. I am a Frisian and proud of it, De Hoop said.

His co-workers expressed their support for him. "Shameless," said outgoing interior minister Hugo de Jonge. "An end to the everyday racism that too many people face every day."

"Get rid of the everyday racism of Vandaag Inside," said former PvdA leader Lodewijk Asscher. Current GroenLinks-PvdA leader Frans Timmermans added: "Stop this racism and just treat others with respect."

Derksen told AD that his statements had "nothing to do with racism" and accused society of being too vigilant. "No matter what you say these days, there's always racism, anti-Semitism or homophobia. There's still one person on Dutch TV who says what he thinks about it, and then he's an idiot. What are people worried about? But I always take it very easy: I don't have no interest in anything and I accept all the consequences."

So far, Derksen's multiple racist, misogynistic and homophobic "jokes" and comments have had little consequence. In 2020, Veronica Inside was scrapped for its final episode after Derksen made a "joke" about anti-racist activist Akwas and blackface Sinterklaas character Zwarte Piet, but the show was picked up for a new season a month later. In 2022, Derksen resigned from Vandaag Inside with much fanfare after his joking admission of sexually abusing an intoxicated woman at a party caused an uproar. But he returned to this job in less than two weeks.

This latest racism is unlikely to have any consequences either. Criminal lawyer Anis Boumanjal told RTL Nieuws that the statements were "quite offensive" but probably not punishable. "It's a borderline case, but I think you can put this in a criminal framework. It's an insult, and the discriminatory nature makes it aggravating. What's certain is that this is morally reprehensible in any case."

In Boumanjal's opinion, the Criminal Code should intervene more in such cases. "But I can imagine that you, like De Hoop, think: I'll leave it at that. To report it and get angry about it is often a punishment to yourself for someone else's crimes. This is not an extreme exaggeration, but again: it is a downright insult from a pedantic man who wants again shouts himself out of his insecurities."