Robert Redding Jr. is an American podcaster, journalist, educator, author and artist. From 2012 to 2013, he hosted the weekday syndicated Redding News Review on SiriusXM.
Personal life and education Redding's father was a preacher. His mother was a teacher in the Atlanta Public Schools. He was raised in the Atlanta area and attended the University of Louisiana where he majored in speech communication. He graduated with a master's degree in communication from Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia. He graduated with Master's in Fine Art in painting and drawing in 2022 from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn.
He is based in New York City and is said to be "the first out bisexual black radio talk show host". He has a daughter Rachel Redding.
Journalism and teaching Redding has taught communications at Pace University and New York City College of Technology. He currently teaches at Seton Hall University. Prior to teaching, he was a talk radio broadcaster working afternoons at WAOK in Atlanta He joined the station in January 2002. On February 6, 2003, Rob Redding's producer, Quiana Knox, 24, was tragically shot at her home in Atlanta, Georgia, following the show. Knox was a visiting student at Clark Atlanta University. The circumstances surrounding her death remain a mystery, and the case is still unsolved. His last show at the station came when management responded by "yanking off the air" the "popular" show just before it ended on May 30, 2003, as he left WAOK-AM over a contract grievance regarding his low pay of less than "30,000 a year." Redding goes by "America's Independent Voice" on the air. He was named one of the "100 most important radio talk hosts in America." He was a journalist at several newspapers including The Washington Times. He started his syndicated news and commentary show while at KMLB where he was also program director. He returned in radio syndication to WAOK in July 2010 and other cities a few years after leaving.
After about five years doing weekends, his show was also added to weekdays during that same time. The show was taken off the air at SiriusXM and continues as paid podcast Redding News Review Unrestricted hosted on Redding News Review website since 2014.
Reporting and punditry
The Atlanta Journal Constitution reported in February 2003 that Rob Redding asked Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue "tough questions" about his possible affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan during the Republicans appearance on his talk show over a proposed referendum to keep the confederate battle symbol off the state of Georgia Flag. He later said that he asked the governor questions that listeners wanted to know in light of Perdue's decision to bring the lesser-known first national flag of the Confederacy, the "Stars and Bars."
In 2004, Redding reported on NBC anchor and managing editor Brian Williams saying that there were bigger issues than newsroom diversity. The comments resulted in a meeting between the National Association of Black Journalists and the NBC.
In 2007, Redding broke news of racist threats made against black columnist Leonard Pitts.
In May 2011, Redding got into a verbal altercation with Rush Limbaugh when he asked Michael Steele, the former chairman of the Republican National Committee, about a skit in which a Limbaugh staffer "reinterpreted" his criticism of Barack Obama's immigration speech in ebonics.
In 2012, Redding was a syndicated talk radio host on SiriusXM where he hosted "Where's the Change? Why Neither Obama nor the GOP Can Solve America's Problems," at Temple University and Connecticut College where he discussed the impact of talk radio on the 2012 presidential election.
In 2013, Redding interviewed recording artist Stromae about racism in Europe. Stromae spoke frankly about being called a "monkey", which inspired the singers hit Formidable.
In 2017, Redding's reported CoverGirl's James Charles comments about "chubby Black women", Indians and Mexicans in 2017 prompting Charles to apologize for his comments.
In 2020, Redding's interview of Texas A&M University professor Tommy Curry resulted in over 80 death threats directed to Curry after his comments were misunderstood.
Redding occasionally features in the National Public Radio Roundtable feature. Redding has been quoted on two occasions in The Associated Press, The Washington Post and The New York Times as a participant in "America in One Room."
Writing Redding has written 19 bestselling books on Amazon's list, including Graphic Graphite: Bucking as a Challenge to Racial Narrative, Black Power in the age of Artificial Supremacy, Smeared, Target, Dark Soul and The Professor: Witnessing White Power (2019).
Redding's 19th book Graphic Graphite: Bucking as a Challenge to Racial Narrative, released the week of Juneteenth 2026, uses slave narratives to depict scenes of bucking in his Constructive Expressionistic art style. He states that his ConEX drawings begin with covering the paper in graphite and then erasing it to reveal human forms. He said the book could not be searched on the site, possibly due to its graphic content. The North Dallas Gazette reported that the book reached No. 1 on Amazon in the Conceptual Art and Art Psychology categories.
His 18th published work, Black Power in the Age of Artificial Supremacy, which includes a chapter by Kwet Yung Redding-Shim, reached No. 1 on Amazon's Machine Theory list in January 2026. Coverage of the book notes that Redding discusses a concept he calls “Robootology,” which he defines as the study of how artificial intelligence and robotics, including questions about emerging forms of sentience, might challenge or unsettle systems of white supremacy.
In an opinion column published in the North Dallas Gazette, Tennessee Tribune, and The Buffalo Criterion, Redding argued that advances in artificial intelligence could undermine what he called the “myth of white supremacy.” He wrote that machines surpassing human labor and intellect might shift existing racial hierarchies, a view he referred to as “Artificial Supremacy.”
The Narrative Matters reported that the book argues artificial intelligence could be used to challenge existing power structures and expose racial bias in technology. The outlet wrote that the book presents AI as a possible tool for Black empowerment when its underlying structures and biases are addressed.
According to Upscale magazine, Redding's 17th and 10th overall No. 1 bestselling book, New Identities: Unmasking Male Racist Transphobia, is an "essential text" that is "riveting as it exposes Republicans' foray into identity politics, which he calls "Identity Inversion," where racist, transphobic, mainly white men masquerade as the oppressed." According to Consciousness Magazine, his 16th book, Ritual, was No. 1 on Amazon and has been described as "a nearly 200-page investigation into the complex relationship between organized religion and societal norms," offering a "profound rethinking of religious practices" and being called "groundbreaking."
In 2023, his 15th book Unquotable was said to be "filled with powerful illustrations created by Redding, while his witty writings unravel issues of race, class, politics and sexuality", according to New York's Black Star News. The paper reported several months earlier that his brand new book Africa: How it can save the World dealing with where to go in time of a nuclear war was "his 14th book and seventh overall No.1 and 5th consecutive No. 1." In 2023, his book 13th book "Smeared", also reached No. 1 and compromised his MFA thesis on ConEx at Pratt Institute framed around "his powerful personal story," according to Black Star News.
Redding had his third consecutive No. 1 on Amazon.com with Target: Unwrapping Racism on August 30, 2021, a book that "ripped away the veil hiding the genesis of racism" and introduced "Visual Geographic Grounding"; it was his fifth No. 1 out of 12 consecutive bestsellers on the platform, following Dark Soul (No. 1 in summer 2020) and The Professor: Witnessing White Power (No. 2019 No. 1, later adapted into a stage play); Redding, "who is also a top-selling artist, artwork entitled 'Target' graces the book's plain white cover. This black circular 34X34 artwork on unstretched canvas is a depiction of an infant in utero riddled with two bullet holes."
The Industry reported on May 26, 2020, that The Professor: Witnessing White Power was "Rob Redding's new hard-hitting book on gays in black leadership recently topped two of Amazon's coveted lists of new books," detailing "how gay interracial relationships and encounters have shaped black power, dissects the sex lives of Jean-Michel Basquiat, James Baldwin, Marvin Gaye, Richard Pryor, and Malcolm X, and contains explosive new information about Basquiat's relationship with Klaus Nomi," noting that "Redding—the first out bisexual black radio talk show host—has a national talk show listened to by a black mainstream audience in 20 states, has taught at Pace and City Tech universities in New York City, and has published several influential works on race and sexuality."
Sinister Citizen, Redding's only foray into fiction, explores the tumultuous landscape of President Trump's America, released in 2017, was said to be "intriguing" and "fascinating" by KKXX, and reached top 30 on Amazon. Rob Redding's Out Loud, which debuted at No. 2 on Amazon's "Hot New Releases" in the Gay and Lesbian Biographies and Memoirs category on November 6, 2017, is described by GAYLETTER as a "juicy" tell-all autobiography "of race and sexuality." CBS remarked that his personal stories of bisexual interracial dating "came as a surprise to his personal friends and many who listen to 'The Redding News Review'," and called the book, which appears to be no longer available, "shocking."
Why Black Lives Matter: How Borigination Explains How to Get Police and Whites to Treat Blacks Like People, officially released on July 6, 2015, and described as a "new best-selling book explaining how to possibly end police brutality and racism," with a foreword penned by Dr. Lewis R. Gordon, reached No. 1 on Amazon's "Hot New Releases."
Unthinkable: Poems, Philosophies and Paintings, released on July 7, 2014, was his "sixth consecutive best seller with a Top 5 and Top 10 appearance respectively on Amazon.com."
Not a Nonviolent Negro: How I Survived Obama debuted at No. 1 on Amazon on March 6, 2013, and was described by Consciousness Magazine as "ground-breaking; a modern blueprint to fearless literature," and given a rating of 4 out of 5 stars, the book is considered a "written composition consumed with extreme meaning, highlighting Redding's boldness, confidence and honesty."
Disrupter: Pathway to Political Independence, Redding's second best-selling book, debuted at No. 1 on Amazon's "Hot New Releases" in "Political Reference" on August 13, 2012, described By Urban Radio Nation as a "new book on how to live a politically independent life," providing essays on how to answer questions about being an independent and giving references for independents.