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Harvey Robert Levin[1] (born September 2, 1950) [2] is an American television producer, legal analyst, journalist, and former lawyer.[3] He founded the celebrity news website TMZ in 2005, and later briefly served as the host of OBJECTified (2016–present), which aired on the Fox News Channel.
Harvey Levin | |
|---|---|
 Levin in 2010 | |
| Born | Harvey Robert Levin September 2, 1950 |
| Education | University of California, Santa Barbara (BA) University of Chicago (JD) |
| Occupations |
|
| Known for | Founder of TMZ |
| Style | Paparazzi |
| Partner | Andy Mauer |
Levin was born September 2, 1950, in Los Angeles County, California to a Jewish family.[4][5][6] He attended high school at Grover Cleveland High School in Reseda, Los Angeles and graduated in 1968 with honors.[7][8] Levin attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where he graduated with a B.A. in political science in 1972.[9] He later attended the University of Chicago Law School and graduated with a J.D. in 1975.[10]
Early law career and academia
Levin was an active attorney in California for two decades, from December 18, 1975, until January 1, 1996.[1] In the mid-1970s, he taught law at the University of Miami School of Law under Soia Mentschikoff.[10][11] He then practiced law briefly in Los Angeles before taking a position at Whittier College School of Law.[11][6][12]
In 1978, Levin came to public attention following a series of high-profile debates with Howard Jarvis, the co-author of Proposition 13, California's controversial property tax-reduction ballot measure, which Levin opposed. With his newfound fame, Levin began to contribute legal advice on a radio show, where he was nicknamed "Doctor Law", as well as to write columns for the Los Angeles Times.[12][11][6] His columnist career with the Times spanned seven years.[12]
Transition to entertainment
Levin covered legal issues for KNBC-TV in 1982.[12] He subsequently joined KCBS-TV and spent a decade doing investigative reporting and legal analysis,[12][11][6] most notably covering the O. J. Simpson murder case.[12][11][6] In 1997, he was named co-executive producer and on-air legal anchor for The People's Court. Levin remained on the show until its cancellation in July 2023.[11][13][12] He created Celebrity Justice, which ran from 2002 to 2005.[11][6]
Levin produced Beyond Twisted, which aired in 2009 for one season before being canceled.[14] He created Famous in 12 (2014), an experiment in exploiting a family for quick fame,[15] but the show was canceled after less than one season, with only five of the scheduled twelve episodes having aired.[16]
This is not television. It's rawer, it's urgent, it's less produced. I really think this is the future. People want to get what they can get on-demand, and they have as much access to a computer as they do a TV set.
—Levin in a 2005 interview with Television Week[17]
In 2005, AOL and Telepictures Productions launched TMZ with Levin as the founder and managing editor.[12][18][19] The website quickly rose to prominence when it broke the story of Mel Gibson's DUI arrest and subsequent antisemitic rant.[12][11][6][18] It continued to break a number of high-profile stories including the abuse of Rihanna by Chris Brown and the deaths of Heath Ledger, Brittany Murphy, Michael Jackson, and Kobe Bryant.[6] The Los Angeles Times named TMZ's coverage of the Jackson death as the biggest story the website had covered to date.[20]
Harvey Levin Productions has produced Levin's media projects since he joined The People's Court in 1983 as the show's legal consultant.[11] In 1985, Levin wrote The People's Court: How to Tell It to the Judge, reviewing and providing commentary on several cases from the show.[21] The Library Journal "recommended [the book] for public libraries."[21]
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Levin appeared as an event speaker for the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association in April 2010 in which he publicly confirmed his self-identification as gay.[22] He discussed his fear of losing his career if someone were to find out, which led to Levin compartmentalizing his personal and professional lives.[22][23]
Levin's longtime partner is Andy Mauer, a chiropractor in southern California.[24][25][26] The two own multiple properties together, sharing joint-deed listings since the late 1990s and early 2000s.[24][25] Levin has been named to Out magazine's "Power 50" list as one of the most influential voices in LGBT America since 2012 when he was named #15.[27] He has since been named #25 in 2013, #34 in 2014, #48 in 2015, and #40 in 2016.[28][29][30][31]
Levin supported Donald Trump in the run-up to the 2016 United States presidential election.[32] Following the election, he met with Trump in the Oval Office on March 7, 2017, and chatted for an hour.[33] However, all that changed by August 2018,[34] when he broke ties with Trump over the president's repeated attempts to establish a transgender military ban. He became an increasingly vocal opponent of Trump in the years following.[35][36]
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- Volcano (1997) – Reporter[37]
- Celebrity Justice – Host[17]
- TMZ - Himself - (2005 to Present)
- Family Guy - Himself - S-8 Ep-14 - "Peter-assment" (2010)
- The People's Court: How to Tell it to the Judge (1985)
For his broadcast work, Levin has been nominated for nine Emmys.[18]
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