Presenter Tom Egbers admits that he called names to the female colleague with whom he had an affair twenty years ago in front of colleagues on the editorial floor of NOS Sport. He said that on a talk show on Friday Khalid & Sophie. He denies threatening her with death.
Egbers’ response followed an article in de Volkskrant last week. It said that the presenter would have run his finger over his throat while looking at the woman in question. That would have happened when the relationship between Egbers and the woman was over.
According to Egbers, the affair between the presenter and the twenty-year-old woman lasted three years. He said on Friday that they had never progressed beyond kissing. He also said that he broke off the affair himself because he had become remorseful about the cheating of his partner and children.
According to Egbers, the woman continued to harass him after that. He would then have approached the management and editor-in-chief of the NOS himself.
The presenter is said to have bullied and intimidated the woman after the affair. The Volkskrant wrote that on the basis of several employees of the sports editor of the NOS. Egbers would, among other things, have run his thumb down his throat when the woman walked by. He said in the talk show that he was sure that “never happened”.
On Friday afternoon, the NOS announced that Egbers will not perform any work for television in the coming months. Earlier, the editors-in-chief of NOS Sport announced that they would step down immediately and not after a few months, as was originally intended.
Egbers believes that culture NOS Sport must change
Egbers’ affair led to female colleagues being warned about the presenter, it turned out last week. Aïcha Marghadi, who worked at NOS Sport from 2010 to 2012, was advised against choosing him as a mentor by editor-in-chief Maarten Nooter. According to Marghadi, Nooter said that Egbers “had quite a bit of trouble with beautiful women”. Egbers does not recognize that, he said on Friday evening.
The presenter acknowledged in the talk show that “the culture at Studio Sport has to change, it is not good”. But he also emphasizes that things have already changed in recent years. He pointed out, for example, that more women work in the editorial office than in the past.
Egbers stated that during the 32 years that he has had a relationship with his wife Janke Dekker, he has known “dark periods”, “when I felt lonely and unhappy”. In these stages, he had “several extramarital escapades that have caused my family great grief”. He has also been in therapy for this, he said.
