Van Jones and Kim Kardashian addressed their feelings about the rumors that they were dating in a new episode of Van’s podcast Uncommon Ground on Wednesday April 6. The old friends laughed about the buzz around their friendship where people thought that they were dating shortly after her split from Kanye West in 2021. Van, 53, told Kim, 41, that he felt like it was the “best rumor ever.”
To start the interview, Van joked about their rumored romance, saying that the two can now speak publicly about their work on criminal justice reform. “Now that we’re broken up, we can actually have a conversation in public,” he quipped. Kim also said that even though the rumors were unexpected, she did also think that it was “funny.”
Van also revealed that when the rumors started coming out, his friends got excited that they thought that he was dating the SKIMs founder, but he had to let them down. “Being a big nerd, having all my guys from college calling like, thinking I was the hero, I was like, ‘No, we’re just working on trying to get people out of prison,’ but it was a cool rumor,” he explained.
Similarly, Kim also said that she was surprised that so many people thought that she was ready to start a new relationship so quickly after her marriage had ended. “So many people asked me also, and I was like, ‘You guys, I just need a minute before I’m out there.’ Give me a minute at least,” she said.
Kim and Van’s romance rumors started shortly after the reality star split from Kanye, but she shut them down in the Keeping Up With The Kardashians reunion in June 2021. She said that even then, Van thought the rumor was hilarious and was using it to his advantage. “Van texted me and was like, ‘This rumor has gotten me so many dates, so I owe you,'” she said in the reunion special.
Even though they were never romantically involved, Kim and Van have clearly been close for years, and the CNN contributor has been super supportive of her efforts to become a lawyer. “I think she’s going to be an unbelievable attorney. I already think she’s one of the best advocates that we have in criminal justice [reform],” Van said in a May 2021 interview with Ellen.