TV football pundit says comment was a bad joke, but refuses to apologise

Football pundit Johan Derksen was unrepentant about controversial comments made about a black rapper and racism in the Netherlands on the Veronica Inside show on Monday evening.

‘I am not going to apologise, I am not going to wear a hair shirt and I am not going to grovel,’ Derksen said.

Derksen hit the headlines last week after comparing a pro-blackface demonstrator to a Black Lives Matter campaigner and rapper Akwasi. Later the Dutch men’s, women’s and youth teams issued a statement condemning Derksen and saying they would boycott the show. Other former internationals also gave their support.

Monday night’s show focused on the criticism, which has also led to a number of advertisers rethinking their strategies.

Derksen described his comments as a joke that backfired. ‘I’ve been hung out to dry this week. And that is okay, because I deserved it,’ he said. ‘I’ve always thought I behaved decently to people of all races and I don’t get the feeling that I have ever insulted black people.’

VIDEO – Johan Derksen: ‘Verkeerde grap, maar geen spijt’https://t.co/lsyGydbeC3#veronicainside pic.twitter.com/KynboWw9dL

— Veronica Inside (@veronicainside) June 23, 2020

In the past Derksen has said a black tv presenter and anti-Zwarte Piet campaigner would be ‘running around as a proud as a monkey’, a comment he later apologised for.

He has also come under fire for describing two men who launched a petition to make football more gay-friendly as ‘two young, hysterical little gay men’ and saying that having too many Moroccan players is spoiling amateur football.

A record 1.7 million people watched the programme, RTL Nieuws reported.