Celebrity television host Nick Cannon issued an apology Wednesday for a recent anti-Semitic rant charging Jews with being hellbent on oppressing black people while “lacking compassion” during an episode of the “Cannon’s Class” podcast with rapper Richard Griffin.
“First and foremost I extend my deepest and most sincere apologies to my Jewish sisters and brothers for the hurtful and divisive words that came out of my mouth during my interview with Richard Griffin,” Cannon wrote in a statement on Twitter. “They reinforced the worst stereotypes of a proud and magnificent people and I feel ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from. The video of this interview has since been removed.”
They reinforced the worst stereotypes of a proud and magnificent people and I feel ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from. The video of this interview has since been removed.
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) July 16, 2020
Cannon’s apology comes after the unrepentant former host of “America’s Got Talent,” who now emcees Fox’s “The Masked Singer” first demanded an apology from ViacomCBS for firing him over the remarks.
“Systemic racism is what this world was built on and was the subject in which I was attempting to highlight in the recent clips that have been circulating from my podcast,” Cannon wrote in a nearly 1,500 word post on Facebook.
Prominent podcast co-host of “The Breakfast Club,” Charlamagne Tha God meanwhile, also weighed in on the controversy claiming Cannon was only fired because “Jewish people have the power.”
“Listen, Nick is my guy. I hate it had to be him, but that’s what you can do when you have the power. And if there’s one thing Jewish people have showed us, it’s they have the power,” Charlamagne said. “I can’t wait until the day black people are able to fire people for saying things about us that we deem racist. We can barely get cops fired for actually killing us.”
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Cannon will remain as host of “The Masked Singer.”
“When we were made aware of Nick Cannon’s interview with Richard Griffin on YouTube, we immediately began a dialogue with Nick,” Fox said in a statement, the Reporter wrote. “He is clear and remorseful that his words were wrong and lacked both understanding and context, and inadvertently promoted hate. This was important for us to observe. Nick has sincerely apologized, and quickly taken steps to educate himself and make amends.”
On Thursday, Hollywood actor Terry Crews said Cannon’s anti-Semitic remarks proved his point that without multi-ethnic support, “Black Lives Matter” would turn into “Black Lives Are Better” in a movement towards “black supremacy.”
"We have to include this white voice, this Hispanic voice, this Asian voice. We have to include it RIGHT NOW, because if we don't…
…it's going to slip into something we are really not prepared for."
– Terry Crews “THE TALK interview”
June 16th, 2020 https://t.co/BkC4yEmwgg— terry crews (@terrycrews) July 15, 2020
