You turned 45 in January. How mature do you consider yourself?
‘What I do on YouTube is, of course, very immature. you see me in GossipTalk ridiculing the private lives of celebrities and with Jans Reviews For example, I take three bites from a ball of mozzarella. That is of course very childish, perhaps even annoyingly childish. But I am also the father of three children: two sons of twelve and a daughter of fourteen. I’m just a serious grown father. And I am also a grown man. I really like the nonsense of life, humor, food, drink, laughter, cynicism, gallows humor. And because of that, I often come across as childish. Also because I am talking about total nonsense with Dennis Schouten, a 26-year-old boy. But maturity for me is also that you can give instead of just take. I think that’s the definition of maturity. And if maturity means you’re just a boring prick, I hope I never become one.’
Why is GossipTalk Do you think it’s such a blast on YouTube?
‘Actually, that success is of course very strange. But if I have to explain it, I think it is a counter-reaction to the D66isation of society, against woke, against politically correct. We have ended up in a society in which the NS says: “Dear passengers” but no longer: “Dear ladies and gentlemen”, because four and a half men and a horse’s head feel insulted because they are non-binary or feel like half a kitchen timer. We have come to a time when humor has certain limits. Those limits are actually: whether the Vara likes it. In the Vara humor they taunt Christians, that’s allowed, but they keep their mouths shut about Muslims. It has all become very careful. Our society is very anxious and cautious, especially within the Amsterdam canal belt. But ordinary people live outside the A10 and that is where the ordinary Netherlands is going on. They make no sense at all in that very narrow, politically correct, cautious woke society. They just like a joke, self-mockery and strong humor. That’s what we bring and you don’t see that anywhere else. The last program on television where that happened was Veronica Inside† But there’s absolutely nothing to it anymore, nothing serious is happening anymore.’
Is your fascination mainly the independence? Do you enjoy doing what you want?
‘Otherwise it would have been impossible. Look, woke’s stranglehold is huge. The NOS news should be the most neutral journalistic program in the Netherlands, but it is not. There I am addressed as a white man. I’m not white at all, I’m white. Recently, I was corrected in court by a female judge when I mentioned a white woman. She said, “It’s not white, it’s white.” Even in the judiciary you will be improved in this. While that is not an issue anywhere, except with the D66 members in the canal belt.’
Now you are the type who likes to kick against holy houses…
‘You have to ask yourself whether this is a sacred house. I think that those holy houses are created by a small minority. Because for the ordinary community a lot of things are not up for discussion. Zwarte Piet, for example, is not a discussion for the ordinary community. Because it is not seen as a racist caricature there at all. It is a very small group that has a lot of power in the media and in the talking houses in Amsterdam. The rest of the Netherlands isn’t concerned with that nonsense at all, is it? What kind of bullshit is that? A gender neutral toilet. Who’s talking about that? That’s what they talk about in Amsterdam, nobody else does.’
Few people who make TV or YouTube dare to speak their mind or say what they think. Do you have some kind of brake? Do you not say things because you think they go too far?
‘I generally think about what I say, although a lot of people doubt it. But I believe in freedoms. I’m glad I live in the – still – free West. But the freedoms are cramped by that woke, because certain people say what is and is not allowed. But freedom of speech is sacred to me. And that is being seriously challenged at the moment, also in the Netherlands. So my reaction to that, which is actually an anti-reaction, is something like GossipTalk† Actually, there is a very serious side to it, but let’s be honest: it’s not very serious when you look at it.’
You once said:GossipTalk would never have happened if people in Hilversum would have treated me a little better.” What did they do to you there?
‘I got a black dot behind my name because I have opinions they don’t want to spout.’
Who do you mean by ‘she’?
‘The NPO, for example. Everyone at the NPO says the same thing. Even PowNed, where I used to work, now have a climate program, women-at-the-top program, diversity program: all that bullshit, even the right-wing populist brother is being used. They all tell the same story. And I don’t fit in there.’
What kind of story is that?
‘The climate is very bad. The multicultural society is fantastic. Islam is peace. Trump is an asshole. Biden is fantastic. Israel used to be great, but now Israel is very bad, it is an apartheid state. Palestinians are all very pathetic. It’s all one and the same left-progressive clique telling the same story.’
You don’t want to be part of that? Did you get rid of it?
‘Let me put it this way: the people who are full of diversity? That inclusiveness of theirs excludes all opinions and people they don’t like. Yeah, then you’re not diverse, are you? Then you are one-sided. There is no diversity in the media landscape in the Netherlands, because everything is determined by a few small people. When she stepped down, Shula Rijxman, who just dropped out of the NPO, said: “I’m glad I was able to put diversity and climate on the agenda in Hilversum.” But that lady was never hired for that. That was not her job. Her job was to make a good NPO. Well, the NPO is viewed and listened to worse than ever, so she failed to do that. She did manage to put her political ideology on the map, but that’s not what the whole instrument was intended for. So those are the people who say: we are very diverse, as long as everyone has the same opinion. You can have a different color, have a cloth on your head, or have yourself converted: everything is allowed, as long as you have the same opinion. And that’s what they call diversity. Well, it isn’t. And I think that such an inflation to the definition of diversity, that I do act against it, yes. I don’t belong there and I shouldn’t belong either… Well, don’t I?’
You broke away from that and are together with Dennis Schouten GossipTalk started, in which you can say and find everything. You loosen the tongues; which scoops contributed to this?
‘The biggest story was of course Marco Borsato and Ali B. We were the first to tell that, but it was not copied anywhere. We were not taken seriously and nothing was done with the news. Until Borsato came up with a statement RTL Boulevard† Very embarrassing to see because they knew exactly what was going on with that program; John van den Heuvel had been chasing it for many months. They played a play: what is and is not allowed by uncle John de Mol? I know that Peter van der Vorst is program director, but it’s all the same clique. Bridget Maasland said that Marco Borsato had issued a statement, but that she did not know what it was about. While all of them GossipTalk look and they’ve all seen it.’
You would have liked to be mentioned as the channel that brought this news.
‘The sick thing is: Tim Hofman comes up with the same story – and he did it very nicely, well edited and well developed – and the whole world is on fire. But when we bring it, not even one journalist says, “Let’s have a look at that.” That kind of indicates that illness: it’s not about what is said, but who says it. That is of course very strange.’
What other gossip have you uncovered?
‘I really like the fact that Marc van der Linden is now sitting on the couch unemployed. We were the first to report that he throws sex parties with a lot of drugs. That he was on crystal meth. And we were the first to bring the porn movie in which he acted as director. That cost him his head RTL BoulevardBee Weekend and with the van Oranje family, where he also worked. And which is really funny; that you are a royalty connoisseur and are employed by the people you talk about. Maybe that’s why he was always so positive.’
Read the rest of the interview in the latest Revu or on Blendle.
In this interview, Jan Roos talks about maturity, inclusiveness, woke, damaging celebrities and about himself. ‘We sometimes call people Jan Boos instead of Jan Roos, but I’m not angry at all. I am enjoying myself. That’s very funny isn’t it? I have an opinion, but that doesn’t mean I’m mad. I don’t wake up angry and I don’t go to bed angry.’
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