Ali B was sentenced to two years in prison by the court on Friday and AVROTROS immediately decided to take all TV programs he appears in offline.
AVROTROS takes programs offline
A spokesperson for the broadcaster confirmed this after TV expert Tina Nijkamp had already shared the message on her socials. AVROTROS had previously removed the program Ali B and the Music Caravan. “It is true that after Ali B’s conviction, we also removed all of his other programs,” says the spokesperson. “Now that he has been found guilty of these crimes, any form of cooperation will stop and there is no longer a place for him on our channels.”
Which programs have been taken offline?
Curious about which programs are involved? For example: Ali B op Volle Toeren, which was on the broadcaster from 2011 to 2020, with a total of six seasons. Ali B en de 40 wens, which appeared on TV in 2014, has now been taken offline by AVROTROS.
Sentenced to two years in prison
The rapper was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday at the court in Haarlem for rape and attempted rape. The latter happened to singer Ellen ten Damme during the recordings of the TV program Ali B and the Music Caravan in Morocco. Yes, you read that right, this was during the recordings of an AVROTROS program.
AVROTROS praises Ellen ten Damme’s courage
AVROTROS said after the verdict on Friday that they commend Ten Damme’s courage for coming forward with her story. They also said they had taken preventive measures so that “this can never and will never happen again”.
Ali B is appealing
The rapper will appeal his sentence. His lawyer Bart Swier announced this after the rapper was sentenced on Friday. Swier had previously said that his client planned to appeal any sentence. “He is convinced of his innocence and that means that he has every confidence that things will go better on appeal and that the appeal will result in a full acquittal”, the lawyer said. Swier also said that the rapper feels “disbelief” and a “deep disappointment” after the sentence. Swier did not want to say where B. himself was during the verdict.
What now?
The appeal will be heard by the Amsterdam Court of Appeal. Swier only expects that the case will take at least another year. Wow! So the rapper and his victims will have to be patient for a while before we know how this will continue.
