Higher Learning podcaster and former TMZ staffer Van Lathan called out rap mogul Kanye West for some old comments he allegedly made during an interview in 2018, saying he wasn’t surprised by the artist’s recent antisemitic outburst. In a since-deleted portion of Ye’s notorious TMZ rant, Van Lathan claims that Ye professed his love for Hitler and the Nazis, and referred to slavery as a “choice.” “I’ve already heard him say that stuff before,” Van Lathan said during an episode of his podcast, referring to West’s recent comments that got him banned from Twitter and Instagram. “I mean, I was taken aback because that type of anti-Semitic talk is disgusting. But as far as him, I knew that that was in him because when came to TMZ, he said that stuff and they took it out of the interview.” “If you look at what I said at TMZ, it goes from me saying like, ‘Hey Kanye, there’s real-life, real-world implication to everything that you just said there.’ What I say after that—if I can remember, it’s been a long time—was, ’12 million people actually died because of Nazism and Hitler and all of that stuff,’ and then I move on to talk about what he said about slavery,” Van Lathan continued. “The reason they took it out is because it wouldn’t have made sense unless they kept in Kanye saying he loved Hitler and the Nazis, which he said when he was at TMZ. He said something like, ‘I love Hitler, I love Nazis.’ Something to that effect.”
