Last night at the Comedy Festival in Amsterdam, standup comedian Theo Maassen destroyed the brand-new €15.000 camera of freelance photographer Ilvy Nijokiktjien who had been hired by the organization of the festival to document the performance. Maassen didn't like to be photographed apparently even though Nijokiktjien was just sitting in a seat amongst the public and was not using flash-photography nor walking around, and was hired by the organization as mentioned above. Nijokiktjien has filed a complaint at the police office. I can only hope that charges are going to be pressed but the damage is done: if you don't like somebody taking photos, just smash the camera! The reaction of the public who had cheered Maasen on and who still were hostile with Nijokiktjien after the incident made that very clear.
Mister Theo Maassen seems to be pretty full of himself. *disgusted*
June 3 update: Ilvy Nijokiktjien has retracted the complained filed with the police after Maassen and the Comedy Festival organization offered to refund the camera. It boiled down to the fact that Maasen hadn't given permission to the organization for photos to be taken while the organization had failed to communicate this to the photographer they had hired.
For me this sounds like a very feeble excuse: Maassen could have easily asked Nijokiktjien to refrain from photographing or asked her to leave, but he chose to get her up in front of everybody, humiliate her and destroy her camera. An overreaction of somebody with an inflated sense of self?
