Van Lathan
Van Lathan Jr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 16, 1980 Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Alma mater | Southern University |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, producer, media personality |
| Notable work | Two Distant Strangers Hip Hop Homicides The Wire: Down in the Hole Higher Learning |
Van Lathan Jr. (born April 16, 1980) is an American journalist, producer, podcaster, and political commentator.
He worked as a senior producer and cohost on TMZ when he came into prominence for confronting Kanye West during a 2018 interview with TMZ for his comments regarding slavery in the United States. After leaving TMZ in 2019, he went on to produce several films, including Two Distant Strangers, which won the award for Best Live Action Short Film at the 93rd Academy Awards and Best Short Film from the African-American Film Critics Association.
He is also the host of the television series Hip Hop Homicides and the host of various podcasts, including The Red Pill Podcast, The Wire: Down in the Hole with Jemele Hill, The Midnight Boys, and Higher Learning with Rachel Lindsay, the latter of which has been nominated on multiple occasions for the NAACP Image Awards. Except for The Red Pill, all of his podcasts are part of the The Ringers podcast network.
In addition to his recent work in media, he has also been featured as a panelist for CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip. In 2022, Lathan released his memoir, Fat, Crazy, and Tired: Tales from the Trenches of Transformation.