Wednesday night, Nick Cannon issued another apology over anti-Semitic comments he made during a recent podcast. Around that time, Fox also announced that Cannon would keep his job hosting The Masked Singer.
On a June 30th episode of his podcast, Cannon’s Class, Cannon referenced anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, including long-held claims about the Rothschild banking family. The comments came during an interview with Richard Griffin, better known as Professor Griff, a former member of Public Enemy who was fired from the group in the Eighties after also making derogatory comments about Jews.
Cannon had already issued two statements before taking to Twitter Wednesday night and posting a thread that began with: “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. 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.”
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.
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) July 16, 2020
Cannon went on to thank the “Rabbis, community leaders and institutions who reached out to me to help enlighten me, instead of chastising.” He concluded, “I want to assure my Jewish friends, new and old, that this is only the beginning of my education — I am committed to deeper connections, more profound learning and strengthening the bond between our two cultures today and every day going forward.”
Meanwhile, Fox wrote on Twitter that it had been in discussions with Cannon ever since it was made aware of his interview with Griffin. The network said: “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 that basis and given a belief that this moment calls for dialogue, we will move forward with Nick and help him advance this important conversation, broadly. Fox condemns all forms of hate directed toward any community and we will combat bigotry of any kind.”
When we were made aware of Nick Cannon’s interview with Richard Griffin on YouTube, we immediately began a dialogue with Nick. He is clear and remorseful that his words were wrong and lacked both understanding and context, and inadvertently promoted hate.
— FOX (@FOXTV) July 16, 2020
The decision from Fox comes after Cannon was fired from ViacomCBS over the comments earlier this week. Cannon’s work for ViacomCBS included serving as an executive at TeenNick, a subsidiary and spin-off Nickelodeon network geared toward teenagers. He was also the creator and host of the successful comedy show Wild ’N Out, first on MTV, then on VH1.
