Van Lathan accuses Roc Nation of seeding negative stories against Colin Kaepernick when Jay-Z was negotiating with NFL

Former TMZ host Van Lathan Jr. made some claims about Roc Nation’s Jay-Z, regarding Colin Kaepernick, on the recent episode of the Higher Learning podcast, which he hosts alongside Rachel Lindsay. Towards the concluding segment of the podcast, Lathan played a video of Colin’s wife, Nessa Diab, in which she was seemingly upset at Jay.

Lathan then clarified that in the video, Nessa discussed Nicki Minaj’s recent claims about a smear campaign that the Roc Nation owner had against her. Nessa had previously spoken out about a similar smear campaign against her husband. Lathan said:

“When Nessa’s talking right there, there’s a part of me that feels bad about letting her be on her own with saying that. And this the reality. This is what happens, what happened at least in this one instance because I was there.”

He went on:

“I can’t say that Jay-Z did anything, right? But I know for sure that Roc Nation was seeding negative stories about Colin Kaepernick during the time that he was really in traction with Jay-Z, for sure. I have told this story before, I will tell it again.”

Lathan shared that after the Roc Nation and NFL deal was announced, Harvey from TMZ came over and told him what he had heard on the phone from someone connected to Roc Nation. The information was about Colin Kaepernick, saying he didn’t want to play football anymore and had skipped training or hurt his own chances.

He thought the story might have come from players who knew Kaepernick or people close to him.

Van Lathan Jr. suggested to Harvey that they should not get in between Colin Kaepernick and Roc Nation's Jay-Z

After getting the news, Van Lathan Jr. told Harvey that they shouldn’t get involved between Colin Kaepernick and Jay-Z. Recalling his suggestion, he said:

“I think if we run what essentially was a hit piece on Colin Kaepernick, I don't think we have the cultural cache to do that. Number one, to insert ourselves into the middle of that situation and also I think it's choosing a side in something that is literally at the core the core of a cult of a black cultural discussion right now. I don't think we should do it. And he listened.”

Lathan remembered that Harvey got into a phone call with someone and came up with a different story. The story that ended up on TMZ said Jay-Z might become an NFL team owner because of his connection with the league. Lathan said this story explained why he chose to work with the NFL.

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It made people think that if Jay owned a team, he could help Colin Kaepernick join one, or that could highlight the cultural impact of having a Black NFL owner. Van Lathan Jr. said he still didn’t understand why Jay-Z and his entertainment company made that deal with the NFL.

He admitted it helped some people, with money going to programs like Inspire Change. He knew activists who were bailed out of jail or received financial help. Roc Nation had done good work, but he still didn’t know the real reason behind that specific decision.

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