Nick Cannon has been dropped by ViacomCBS for refusing to apologize for ”perpetuating anti-Semitism.”
The Wild ‘n Out host has worked on a variety of shows on the company's networks, including MTV and Nickelodeon, for decades and was even named chairman of TeenNick in 2009 but they have announced they are terminating their partnership following the backlash of a recent episode of his YouTube show Cannon's Class, in which he and former Public Enemy member Richard ‘Professor Griff' Griffin discussed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
Nick said on the podcast, “The people that don't have [melanin] are a little less. They may not have had the compassion when they were sent to the mountains of Caucasus when they didn't have the power of the sun. The sun then started to deteriorate them so then, they're acting out of fear, they're acting out of low self-esteem, they're acting out of a deficiency.”
He added, “They have to rob, steal, rape, kill in order to survive. So then, these people that didn't have what we have — and when I say we, I speak of the melanated people — they had to be savages.” Nick went on calling them “barbaric,” saying, “They're acting as animals so they're the ones that are actually closer to animals. They're the ones that are actually the true savages.”
ViacomCBS said in a statement: ”ViacomCBS condemns bigotry of any kind and we categorically denounce all forms of anti-Semitism.”
”We have spoken with Nick Cannon about an episode of his podcast Cannon's Class on YouTube, which promoted hateful speech and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
”While we support ongoing education and dialogue in the fight against bigotry, we are deeply troubled that Nick has failed to acknowledge or apologize for perpetuating anti-Semitism, and we are terminating our relationship with him.”
”ViacomCBS is committed to doing better in our response to incidents of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry.”
Following the massive criticism, Nick took to his Facebook account to stress that he does not “condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric.”
Here is Cannon's full statement:
Anyone who knows me knows that I have no hate in my heart nor malice intentions. I do not condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric. We are living in a time when it is more important than ever to promote unity and understanding.
The Black and Jewish communities have both faced enormous hatred, oppression persecution and prejudice for thousands of years and in many ways have and will continue to work together to overcome these obstacles.
When you look at The Media, and other sectors in our nation’s history, African Americans and The people of the Jewish community have partnered to create some of the best, most revolutionary work we know today.
I am an advocate for people’s voices to be heard openly, fairly and candidly. In today’s conversation about anti-racism and social justice, I think we all – including myself – must continue educating one another and embrace uncomfortable conversations – it’s the only way we ALL get better. I encourage more healthy dialogue and welcome any experts, clergy, or spokespersons to any of my platforms to hold me accountable and correct me in any statement that I’ve made that has been projected as negative. Until then, I hold myself accountable for this moment and take full responsibility because My intentions are only to show that as a beautiful human species we have way more commonalities than differences, So let’s embrace those as well as each other. We All Family!
Cannon has hosted America’s Got Talent and currently hosts The Masked Singer. It’s not clear if this will affect his relationships with other networks, or if it will affect his planned syndicated talk show.
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