Source: Gilbert Carrasquillo / Getty
Kanye West has been vocal about his anti-Semitic feelings since 2018, said media personality Van Lathan on his podcast Higher Learning. The rapper/producer continues to suffer fallout from his now-deleted tweet stating he would “go death con 3 ON JEWISH PEOPLE.”
“I already heard him say that stuff before at TMZ,” Van Lathan told co-host Rachel Lindsay. “I mean, I was taken aback because that type of anti-Semitic talk is disgusting. It’s like, I’m taken aback any time anyone does that, right? But as far as [West], I knew that that was in him because when he 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,’” Lathan continued. “What I say after that—if I can remember, it’s been a long time—was, actually, ’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.”
“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 lastly added. “[Kanye] said something like, ‘I love Hitler, I love Nazis.’ Something to that effect.”
Van Lathan’s statement comes shortly after the release of unaired footage from West’s recent interview with Fox News journalist Tucker Carlson. “I was biting my tongue on my political opinion because I thought it would be better for my children. And now you look up, and my kids are going to a school that teaches Black kids a complicated Kwanzaa,” West tells the conservative correspondent. “I prefer my kids knew Hanukkah than Kwanzaa — at least it would come with some financial engineering.”
Meanwhile, SpringHill Entertainment CEO Maverick Carter released his own statement saying he was shelving an upcoming episode of The Shop because West wouldn’t quit the rhetoric.
“Yesterday we taped an episode of The Shop with Kanye West. Kanye was booked weeks ago and, after talking to Kanye directly the day before we taped, I believed he was capable of a respectful discussion, and he was ready to address all his recent comments,” Carter said in the statement. “Unfortunately, he used ‘The Shop’ to reiterate more hate speech and extremely dangerous stereotypes.”
“While The Shop embraces thoughtful discourse and differing opinions, we have zero tolerance for hate speech of any kind and will never allow our channels to be used to promote hate,” he added. “I take full responsibility for believing Kanye wanted a different conversation and apologize to our guests and crew. Hate speech should never have an audience.”
