Kanye West has reportedly declared his love for Hitler and the Nazis in off-air remarks.
Kanye West's backlash of anti-Semitic posts should come as no surprise, as the rapper made similar comments during his infamous TMZ appearance in 2018, where he claimed that "400 years of Black slavery was a choice."
Van Lathan Jr., who worked for TMZ at the time, recalled on a new episode of the "Higher Learning" podcast that Kanye West had declared his "love" for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis, however, those specific comments were cut from the final video.
"I've already heard him say these things before on TMZ," Van Lathan Jr. said. about Kanuye West's recent anti-Semitic comments.
"I was surprised because these kinds of anti-Semitic comments are disgusting. It amazes me every time someone does this, doesn't it? But with Kanye West, I knew that was in him because when he came to TMZ, he said those things and they took them out of the interview,” he revealed.
During Kanye West's TMZ interview in 2018, Van Lathan Jr. took issue with the rapper over his view that slavery was "a choice".
Lathan stood up and blasted Kanye West, saying, “I think you're actually not thinking right now. I am incredibly hurt by the fact that you have morphed into something that is not real. You have to be responsible."
Van Lathan Jr. he continued speaking on the podcast: "If you look at what I said to TMZ, it starts with me saying, 'Hey Kanye, there's something to really believe in everything you just said there.'"
"What I said 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 that stuff,' and then I talked about what he said about slavery ", he recalled.
Van Lathan Jr. pointed out that the point "12 million people" was removed from the final interview.
“The reason they took it out is because it wouldn't make sense unless they kept Kanye saying he loved Hitler and Nazis, which he said when he was on TMZ. He said something like: "I love Hitler, I love the Nazis." He said something like that when he was there," he said.
“And they took it out of the interview for some reason. It was not my decision," he asserted.
