Dutch Broadcaster Claims It Will Air Cannibalism
December 20, 2011
AMSTERDAM (AP) -- A Dutch broadcaster - renowned for testing the limits of good taste and the law - says it will air a segment in which two presenters engage in cannibalism by eating a small chunk of one another's fried flesh.
A BNN spokesman said Tuesday the men had each had a small piece of tissue surgically removed for the stunt - one from his side and the other from his buttocks.
Presenter Dennis Storm said in a press release that his motivation was a simple desire to know how human flesh tastes.
A teaser clip for the show "Guinea Pigs," which airs Wednesday, shows the two men looking on as a chef fries tiny pieces of meat in a pan.
In 2007, BNN aired a fake game show in which people who needed kidney transplants competed on live television for a supposedly terminally ill woman's kidney. The woman was an actress and the show was a hoax, but it was praised by some for raising awareness of the need for donors and went on to win an international Emmy award.
Spokesman Thijs Verheij said Wednesday's show is real, but acknowledged the broadcaster had lied about "The Big Donor Show." He said the cannibalism episode had already been taped in front of witnesses.
"With the donor show we had a point to make, now there's no point," he said. "If at the end of all the buildup we said 'just kidding,' we'd look like fools."
One of the country's best-known criminal defense lawyers is participating in the program, and was quoted saying that cannibalism is not expressly illegal in the Netherlands.
However, "cutting and removing flesh from a healthy body without medical reason is illegal," Gerard Spong said. "Eating meat obtained in this way is ... punishable."
BNN, which targets a youth audience, has previously aired programs such as "Shooting and Swallowing" in which presenters used illegal drugs and performed sex acts.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/E/EU_NETHERLANDS_CANNIBALISM?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-20-12-31-40
