© Hollandse Hoogte / Anneke Janssen
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Singer Anouk (47) was a guest in the Dutch talk show Jinek on Friday evening. She was talking about it The Voiceof Hollandscandal and her subsequent retirement from the show. “Ali B needs therapy, man,” she said of her former colleague.
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Just before she sat down at the table, Anouk heard the news about 54-year-old singer Ellen ten Damme. On Friday it was announced that she went to the police with a statement about Ali B. It would be about sexually inadmissible behavior that happened during the recording of a TV program.
“What a pancake”, is Anouk’s first reaction to the news. “It sucks, because I liked all those men who were involved. I think it’s very good of Ellen that she went to the police. Ali needs therapy, man.”
–Ali B als coach in The Voice of Holland. — © BELGAIMAGE
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The outbreak of the scandal in January came as a surprise to Anouk. “It didn’t surprise me that Ali was cheating. That’s something you have to fix at home. But this just isn’t possible. I do not understand it either. Those guys have so much money. Then I think: why there? Why not just go to Dubai, once a month. Rent a boat with ten sex workers and let yourself be completely drained. Why does that have to be there? I don’t get it.”
a bit laconic
The singer was told for an hour and a half before the rest of the world that The Voice of Holland would stop. The broadcaster did not want to say who the charges were about. “I immediately started calling people myself. That’s how I found out,” says Anouk. Band leader Jeroen Rietbergen did not deny the charges. “He said right: I’m the asshole, I’ve done it, it’s done for me,” she says. Linda De Mol’s husband gave that day admitted in a statement that he made mistakes and resigned† A charge of assault came in against the bandleader.
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“Ali was still a bit laconic when I called him,” the singer continues. “He said he didn’t really remember what it was about, it was a long time ago. I couldn’t tie a knot. I immediately felt during the conversation: this is not okay.” After that, the singer Ali B did not speak again. Two women have reported Ali B to the police and many others have shared their stories about the man, both with the police and in the BOOS-documentary. The rapper has been accused of rape by several women.
Anouk resigned as coach a day after the allegations came out. She did that in a video where she told the people of The Voice called “a corrupt gang”† A day later she got on the phone with a seething RTL boss. “We are going to meet soon to talk it out,” the singer says about it now. Although the chance seems that The Voice of Holland ever back on the screen comes out very small.
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