On Monday it is a week since the first episode of the intensely criticised Alle elsker Rasmus (in English: Everyone Loves Rasmus) premiered.
Since the release, the show has been pulled from streaming, led to many of the participants releasing public apologies, and the channel behind it, TV 2, apologising and initiating an internal investigation.
Now, politicians from across the political spectrum have started adding their views to the programme and the process around it, especially with regard to the internal investigation.
Alle elsker Rasmus
In the controversial satirical show, 149 people spent four months tricking comedian Rasmus Wallbridge into thinking he had signed his dream movie deal, only to reveal at the end that it was all a setup.
Amongst the people in on the prank was Wallbridge’s friend and collaborator Martin Johannes Larsen.
After several days of criticism, TV 2 first released all six episodes on TV 2 Play on Friday. The following day, after further criticism, the broadcaster took all the episodes down and apologised for the programme it had otherwise been defending for several days.
The criticism explained
The criticism of the show revolves around the way the programme treated Wallbridge, lying to him for months and making him think his dream was coming true.
Some critics have compared the programme to psychological torture and have worried that the whole experience could have been traumatic.
Reporting also suggests Wallbridge walked out of the filming upset after the big reveal, and TV 2’s own admission to dishonest editing of this sequence has further fanned the flames.
Internal investigation
On Sunday, Ulla Pors, TV 2’s content director, announced that the station will launch an internal investigation into the programme and the processes around it.
She told Ritzau: “We must now get to the bottom of the mistakes that have clearly been made in the process with the series.
“Justified criticism of TV 2 has been raised on several fronts, and we naturally take that criticism to heart. The series should not have been made and should therefore never have been released.”
Minister of Culture joins critics
On Saturday, Minister of Culture Zenia Stampe of the Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), in a written comment to Ekstra Bladet, wrote: “I am relieved that TV 2 has itself chosen today to take the programme down and admitted that its judgment has failed.
“Now I hope that they will use their efforts to help Rasmus Wallbridge move on after the distasteful psychological experiment they have subjected him to, and that they will also follow his suggestion never to do it again.”
She later added that she would like to see the findings of the report made public.
In an interview with TV 2, she said, “I think TV 2 itself knows very well that there is a lot of work ahead in restoring the trust of the Danish people. And that obviously starts with laying all the cards on the table.”
Other politicians join the discussion
Politicians from across the political spectrum have criticised TV 2 and the programme.
In a widely shared post on Instagram, leader of Liberal Alliance Alex Vanopslagh wrote that he would like to see consequences for TV 2 for this programme.
He added, “It is absurd that so many people have contributed to deceiving a single person and afterwards turned it into something for others to be entertained by.
“I haven’t spoken to anyone about this yet who doesn’t instantly think it’s a completely crazy concept.”
The Denmark Democrats’ (Danmarksdemokraterne) political spokesperson Susie Jessen also shared her view on TV 2 on Monday, saying, “We politicians need to look closely into this.
“TV 2 has public service obligations, so they are subject to certain guidelines. Therefore, there is a lot that calls for it to be thoroughly investigated.”
On X, Mohammad Rona added, “I am actually glad that the Danish public broadly and completely rejected this bullying. And that there is such strong support for Rasmus Wallbridge, both on social media and by buying tickets to his show.
“Hopefully, this has shown where an otherwise clear line lies in Danish TV production, and what you can get away with doing to other human beings.”
