ViacomCBS Has Fired Nick Cannon For Making Anti-Semitic Statements

Three years ago, Nick Cannon quit his job hosting America’s Got Talent, because he felt like NBCUniversal was censoring him. At that time, Nick released a stand-up special in which he joked that he couldn’t say what he really wanted to say, because – according to Nick – NBC didn’t want him to be too Black. Gabrielle Union is thinking, “Where is the joke though.” NBC reportedly wanted Nick to apologize for the joke, which he refused to do, and so he quit.

Nick has continued to speak without a filter, like when he said some collar-tugging shit about white people and the Jewish community during a recent episode of his podcast, Cannon’s Class. If Nick was expecting that his most recent employer, ViacomCBS, would negotiate like NBCUniversal did, well – he predicted wrong. Because ViacomCBS terminated Nick’s employment.

Deadline reports that Nick discussed race and racism with former Public Enemy member Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin on a June 30th episode of Cannon’s Class. Which makes sense, considering Nick has been seen actively participating in Black Lives Matters protests. But here’s where Nick turned a corner and got problematic:

Referencing the ideas of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, Cannon said that people who have “the lack of pigment” are “a little less” than those who do, and have “a lack of compassion.” He continued, “They’re acting out of fear. They’re acting out of low self esteem. They’re acting out of a deficiency. So therefore the only way they can act is evil. They have to rob, steal, rape and [unintelligible] in order to survive.”

Cannon also espoused anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about The Rothschilds and “the bloodlines that control everything, even outside of America.” He said that Black people are the “true Hebrews.”

I suppose if Nick was talking about watching a herd of Karens descend upon the toilet paper section at Kroger back in March, his comments might not have been as poorly received. But sweeping generalizations, paired with some “Jewish people secretly run the world” conspiracy talk, isn’t a great combination when you’re trying to stay employed. ViacomCBS, who owns the rights to Nick’s show Wild ‘N Out, quickly released a statement yesterday condemning Nick’s comments.

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. We are committed to doing better in our response to incidents of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry. ViacomCBS will have further announcements on our efforts to combat hate of all kinds.

I’m kind of shocked that they didn’t add in a line at the end that said: “Nick, did you forget that two of your kids are part white?” Nick still has his job as host of The Masked Singer on Fox.

Nick released a statement on Monday on Facebook, in which he tried to explain what he meant when he said the things he said. Nick didn’t mean to spread hate. He also tried to kill that accusations of anti-Semitism by saying that the Black and Jewish communities are kind of one and the same when it comes to hate and prejudice.

Nick didn’t stop there and hopped on Facebook again to defend himself further. And this time, Nick took those prayer hands from his first message and slapped the shit out of Viacom for firing him.

Nick adds that he is the one who deserves an apology. He is also demanding that ViacomCBS hand over full ownership of the Wild ‘N Out brand.

I don’t think ViacomCBS is going to hand over that apology of the rights to Wild ‘N Out so quickly. But if someone wants to issue an apology, then great. Go ahead. But while they’re typing the words: “ViacomCBS would like to apologize to,” maybe they can quickly throw in Janet Jackson’s name as well. After all, if anyone deserves an apology from CBS for an attempted career assassination, it’s Janet.

Pic: Wenn.com