Harvey Levin

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Harvey Levin

Born	june 29, 1953
Birth place	Los Angeles, ca
Circumstances
Occupation	Lawyer, celebrity reporter
Notable credit(s)	Host of TMZ on TV Legal analysis in The People's Court

Harvey Robert Levin (born 1953) is an American television producer, lawyer, legal analyst, and a celebrity reporter.

Levin received an undergraduate degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his J.D. from the University of Chicago. He passed the bar exam in 1975, and taught at Whittier College School of Law (formerly known as Beverly Rubens School of Law) in Los Angeles between approximately 1977 and 1980. He later worked in various legal roles in the entertainment industry. For years, he was a legal reporter on KCBS-TV in Los Angeles where he reported on the O.J. Simpson murder trial. In 1994, Levin almost caused murder charges against Simpson to be tossed out when he presented a video on KCBS-TV that allegedly showed prosecutor Marcia Clark searching Simpson’s home before a search warrant was issued. Within days, Levin was forced to retract the story and apologize on air. In 1996, Levin moved to New York to work as a legal analyst for The People's Court and deactivated his California bar license. Levin next created and executive produced Celebrity Justice in 2002 until it was cancelled after three years. Today, he is a managing editor at TMZ.com, a celebrity news and gossip site launched by Time Warner-AOL in December 2005. He also executive produces and hosts TMZ on TV. He is a frequent guest of The Kevin and Bean Morning show, in addition to CNN's Larry King Live. Levin is openly gay and lives in Los Angeles with his long-time partner, a chiropractor.

[edit] Awards

On December 30, 2007, the media watchdog website, Tabloid Baby, named Levin its Journalist of The Year for 2007 ^[1], stating: “Who did more damage to entertainment reporting in 2007 than Harvey Levin?... he and his gutter operation… almost singlehandedly transformed Hollywood entertainment reporting into a gutter-level street battle fueled by self-hatred, jealousy and anger, with no concern for what once determined greatness, excellence or fame…”