Comedian Hans Teeuwen Has Home Raided After Posting Video With ‘Gun’

Video shows six Dutch police officers raid the Amsterdam home of comedian Hans Teeuwen on Tuesday, just hours after he posted a clip on social media in which an object appearing to be a gun was visible.

Teeuwen, an absurdist comedian and musician, shared the videos to his Instagram account on Tuesday, where each received roughly 400,000 views and more than 10,000 likes.

In the first clip, Teeuwen donned a black wig and parodied Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema as what appeared to be a firearm sat next to the comedian on a table.

The second video, posted roughly three hours later, shows police arrive and enter Teeuwen’s home in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

The Netherlands has strict laws regarding guns and other weapons, which include fake and prop guns. The European country prohibits numerous “fire” weapons, and banned items include throwing knives, brass knuckles, pepper spray, guns and fake weapons.

The government’s website describes fake weapons as “Objects that closely resemble firearms or explosive objects in shape and size are prohibited,” Possession of a prohibited item is punishable. The Netherlands’ ban “does not apply to toy objects, such as in the European Toy Directive 2009/48/EC, which closely resemble real weapons,” the website states.

Newsweek reached out via Instagram on Tuesday to Teeuwen for comment, as well as the Dutch National Police and Halsema’s office.

The videos posted on Instagram by Teeuwen were in Dutch and translated to English via YouTube by Newsweek.

While Teeuwen did not say why he included the prop gun in the video mocking Halsema, Dutch news outlet NL Times reported that it was likely a jab at the mayor over her then-teenage son’s 2019 arrest in which he was accused of having a deactivated firearm.

In the video showing police at his home, the comedian can be heard saying that the officers were there to take away his “prop gun.” The clip shows Teeuwen answering the door as six police officers stand outside. Teeuwen allowed the officers into the home and asked why they were there.

An officer responded, saying that it was in connection with the Dutch law regarding firearms and what “someone saw in the short video.” A police spokesperson confirmed to the NL Times that a “concerned individual” contacted authorities after spotting the gun in Teeuwen’s social media video.

During the interaction with police, Teeuwen did another Halsema impersonation and sarcastically praised the “unbelievably good” response by law enforcement to ensure “that the citizens of Amsterdam remain safe.” The performer then sat at a piano and played a tune while singing, “Come to the police.”

At one point in the clip, Teeuwen held out his hands and appeared to offer to be cuffed as an officer explained that the prop gun was being seized. Police did not take Teeuwen into custody during the video and told the comedian that he may receive a summons as a criminal suspect that mandates he go to a police station for questioning.

Teeuwen asked, “Are you not ashamed a bit for this lame moment?” The comedian then counted the six police officers walking away and shouted, “I love you people!”

A police spokesperson told the NL Times that the fact that the gun was a prop in a comedian’s performance is irrelevant, saying: “We always take it very seriously when we receive such a report. We want fake firearms and real firearms off the street. You can’t tell the difference.”

The spokesperson also told the outlet that a “tactical arrest team” is dispatched whenever a gun has been reported, and said the police response to the comedian’s home was “scaled down.”