Van Lathan can\u2019t say for certain how much of a role \u2014 if any \u2014 Jay-Z played in planting negative stories about Colin Kaepernick.<\/p>\n
But The Ringer personality knows for a fact that the rap legend\u2019s sports agency, Roc Nation, helped seed such stories as the former San Francisco 49ers star attempted his NFL comeback.<\/p>\n
On this week\u2019s episode of Higher Learning<\/a>, Lathan discussed Nicki Minaj\u2019s recent allegations that Jay-Z had organized a smear campaign against her<\/a>, which prompted Kaepernick\u2019s wife, Nessa Diab, to make similar claims regarding his treatment of her husband<\/a>. But while Lathan couldn\u2019t speak specifically to the claims against Jay-Z, he said that he does possess firsthand knowledge of the manner in which Roc Nation operated with regard to Kaepernick.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is the reality. This is what happens, at least what happened in this one instance because I was there,\u201d Lathan said. \u201cI can\u2019t say that Jay-Z did anything, right? But I know for sure \u2014 for sure\u2014 that Roc Nation was seeding negative stories about Colin Kaepernick during the time that he was really in traction with Jay-Z. For sure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Lathan proceeded to recall that he was working for TMZ at the time when the outlet\u2019s founder, Harvey Levin, approached him with information he received from a Roc Nation source regarding Kaepernick. The information fell in line with a lot of the negative stories that had emerged about the former Nevada star, including claims that he wasn\u2019t truly interested in reentering the NFL<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the same thing that people had started to hear on First Take,\u201d Lathan said. \u201cIt was a narrative that was getting around.\u201d<\/p>\n