TMZ’s Harvey Levin Says Politics Is Pop Culture
6/22/202657 min
TMZ, the celebrity news juggernaut, opened a Washington, D.C., bureau this spring. Founder Harvey Levin joins Kara to talk about the stories his team is looking for and why he views politics as pop culture.
Levin discusses TMZ’s earlier attempts to establish a presence in the capital and how the latest government shutdown helped revive the idea. He and Kara dig into TMZ’s standards, whether it pays sources, and Levin’s relationship with President Trump. They also discuss TMZ’s coverage of Spencer Pratt’s failed Los Angeles mayoral run.
Plus: how Levin is pivoting the business toward social media and YouTube.
Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Threads, and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher.
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsKara Swisher· Host0:00
You don't know this maybe about me, but I used to do parties for the Washington Post. They used to cover parties.
Speaker 20:04
I did know, I did know that.
Kara Swisher· Host0:05
That was my coming up job, was like, "Can I get Ted Kennedy to throw a drink in my face?" kinda stuff, or something like that. He spilled a drink on me once.
Speaker 30:13
It's on.
Kara Swisher· Host0:14
[upbeat music] Hi, everyone. From New York Magazine and the Vox Media Podcast Network, this is On with Kara Swisher, and I'm Kara Swisher. My guest today is TMZ founder and executive director Harvey Levin. A lawyer and TV legal analyst, Harvey started a celebrity news site, TMZ, in two thousand and five, which is where I met him. He since expanded into a multi-platform business that includes television, streaming, podcasts, social media channels, documentaries, and celebrity bus tours. TMZ set itself apart from traditional tabloids by what it didn't cover. No red carpets, weddings, and junkets. Instead, it leaned on aggressive investigative reporting and ethically dubious methods to some, including possibly paying sources, though that's something Harvey argues about, to land some of the biggest celebrity scoops of the past two decades. This spring, TMZ expanded its political news coverage and opened up a bureau in Washington, DC. According to a post on TMZ, the reporters plan to, quote, "Explore the intersection between pop culture and politics." I have interviewed Harvey many times, way back when I was at the Wall Street Journal, when I really