Dutch football teams boycott TV show over Black Pete remarks
The HinduThe Dutch men's and women's national football team players said on Friday they would no longer grant interviews to a popular TV show due to remarks made by a commentator mocking an anti-racism protester. In a statement first published on Twitter by men's team captain Virgil van Dijk, the players said they would no longer speak with the Veronica Inside programme after the host compared a prominent Dutch black activist to “Black Pete”. Black Pete is a fictional character in Dutch winter holiday celebrations usually portrayed by white people wearing black face paint - a tradition criticised this week by U.S. civil rights leader Jesse Jackson as offensive. Several show sponsors, including supermarket retail giant Ahold, said on Friday they would stop advertising during the show, which is aired by Talpa, a company owned by billionaire Dutch media mogul John de Mol.
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