Flemish minister Ben Weyts reprimands aide over fabricated gay Muslim op-ed

The fabricated submission

In late September 2026, a 26-year-old staff member in the cabinet of Flemish Budget and Finance Minister Ben Weyts submitted an opinion piece to at least five newsrooms in Flanders. The text carried the title "Gay and Muslim: yes, I am the far-right's worst nightmare". The author created the pseudonym Mohammed El Idrissi, describing himself as a 29-year-old gay Muslim living in Borgerhout, Antwerp, who had been in a relationship with a male partner for five years. The submission responded to late-September street harassment directed at Flemish content creator Jonatan Medart and his partner. The fictional author argued that public commentary routinely targets Muslims whenever homophobic harassment occurs, contrasting his acceptance in Borgerhout with his partner's family village in the Antwerp Kempen. He also claimed to attend his local mosque wearing a crop top and tight trousers.

Political attacks and newsroom reception

The op-ed directed political criticism at Vlaams Belang chairman Tom Van Grieken and N-VA lawmaker Theo Francken. The author accused both politicians of exploiting homophobic incidents to portray Muslims as an existential threat to Western values, effectively attacking a senior member of the political party employing him. While the sender submitted the text through an encrypted email account under his alias, at least one newsroom rejected the piece after he refused a telephone verification interview by claiming to be abroad. The progressive news portal DeWereldMorgen published the submission and left it online for approximately twelve hours before removing it following editorial inquiries.

Investigation and staffer explanation

On 1 October 2026, the investigative weekly Knack revealed that the author did not exist and traced the submission to an aide of an N-VA minister. The author had left his real name inside the document metadata of the submitted Word file. Subsequent reporting by Het Nieuwsblad confirmed the writer was a white cabinet employee working directly for Weyts. When questioned by Knack, the staff member described the initiative as a private test conducted outside his professional duties. He stated that his goal was to demonstrate that conservative voices face greater difficulty securing space on Flemish opinion pages than queer Muslims, claiming he had intentionally included exaggerations so attentive editors could detect the fabrication.

Disciplinary sanction and political reactions

Minister Weyts confirmed the deception on 5 October 2026 and issued a formal reprimand against the staff member, placing the sanction directly into his personnel file. Weyts stated that the action was foolish but refused calls to fire the aide.

The person involved is 26 years old and realizes he made an enormous blunder, but I am not throwing him under the bus for one stupid mistake, even though he damaged my cabinet and me.

Opposition party Groen criticized the minister's response as insufficient. Parliamentary group leader Mieke Schauvliege referenced the deontological code governing cabinet staff, which permits dismissal when actions compromise the government.

This is literally fake news, spread by someone who works in the cabinet of a Flemish vice-minister-president.

Schauvliege demanded that Weyts accept political responsibility rather than dismiss the hoax as a youthful error. Weyts stated he would conduct a private meeting with the staff member to address the breach.