Presenters on Studio Brussel, a radio station of Belgium’s publicly funded broadcaster VRT, have caused outrage after destroying Christian figures and stating they would never behave in such a way towards symbols of other religions.
The radio hosts destroyed statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus during a live segment as part of a “Blue Monday” activity aimed at helping listeners release negative feelings.
The piece, aired on the morning programme hosted by Eva De Roo and Dries Lenaerts with involvement from Sam De Bruyn, featured the presenters smashing various objects, including crockery, a computer screen and two Christian statues — one depicting the Virgin Mary with the infant Jesus.
The segment was intended as a light-hearted exercise in a “rage room” style.
They said that the smashing of the religious artefacts “felt good”.
Irish journalist Colm Flynn, who reports for EWTN, a Catholic outlet, later interviewed the presenters at the Radiodays Europe conference in Riga, Latvia.
In the interview, Flynn went deeper about their self-declared stances on “respect” and asked whether they had concerns that the act might offend Christians.
Sam De Bruyn, executive producer with the public broadcaster, replied that according to him, it would “not really offend people” because the country is not so religious anymore, definitely not the listeners to Studio Brussel.
He also added that they made clear the things that were smashed were already broken.
De Bruyn did admit that he “would have been more careful in another country” but not in Belgium.
Flynn went on to ask if they would perform the same action on symbols of Islam or Judaism.
“Would you ever smash a symbol of the prophet Muhammad?,” he asked, to which De Bruyn replied it would be “dangerous”.
De Roo said she would never do that because it “would be inappropriate because there are many Muslims in Belgium”.
When Flynn noted that there are many Christians in Belgium and the Pope even made a visit not so long ago, De Roo said they felt it was appropriate in this case because they themselves had a culturally Christian background and described it as a form of self-critique or self-mockery, something her colleagues all agreed with.
De Bruyn said it was also more dangerous if you do such a thing towards a religion you know less about.
Flynn remarked it could strike people as hypocritical and noted that the public broadcaster receives a lot of taxpayer money from people who are Christian.
De Bruyn claimed they would not have done it on other channel and that Studio Brussel was “very alternative”.
Still, De Roo admitted that she would not have done it after the conversation, admitting it made her feel uncomfortable.
The presenters said that this was also part of their show, letting listeners call them and talk about mistakes they feel were made.
Belgium’s publicly funded youth radio station, Studio Brussel (VRT), featured a sketch in which its breakfast presenters smashed various items on air, including a statue of Our Lady and Jesus. I asked if they were concerned it would cause offence, and if they would do the same to… pic.twitter.com/jYjJqM1FO3
— Colm Flynn (@colmflynnire) March 23, 2026
The original video clip and the interview have circulated widely on social media since January and been shared by Colm Flynn, leading to public backlash online.
In a statement, Yasmine Van der Borght, a spokesperson for VRT, said Studio Brussel had misjudged the “Blue Monday” sketch.
“Eva and Dries offer their apologies. The video was intended as a humorous piece, and they underestimated how sensitive religious symbols can be. They understand that this was offensive to some people and would make different choices today,” Van der Borght said.
She added that the public broadcaster finds it important to treat all religions with respect and care.
Media minister Cieltje Van Achter labelled the interview as “painful”.
She said it was good that the presenters appeared to show remorse and stressed that all religions should be open to ridicule.
Equality organisations, NGOs and anti-discrimination institutions were all notably quiet on the issue.
