Despite his firing from ViacomCBS over anti-Semitic comments made during a recent podcast, Nick Cannon will hold on to his job as the host of Fox’s “The Masked Singer.”
The network’s decision to keep Cannon as host of the singing competition comes after ViacomCBS fired the “Drumline” actor from his improv show “Wild ‘N Out” for his comments during a June 30 episode of his “Cannon’s Class” YouTube podcast.
“He is clear and remorseful that his words were wrong and lacked both understanding and context, and inadvertently promoted hate,” Fox said in a statement. “This was important for us to observe. Nick has sincerely apologized and quickly taken steps to educate himself and make amends. We will move forward with Nick and help him advance this important conversation, broadly.”
During the podcast episode, Cannon held a discussion with former Public Enemy member Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin, in which the two spoke about Griffin’s 1989 exit from the group after making remarks considered anti-Semitic.
Cannon received backlash for echoing conspiracy theories about Jewish people and for praising Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan, who himself has long been accused of anti-Semitism.
After news broke early Wednesday about Cannon’s firing, the 39-year-old entertainer posted a statement on Facebook slamming Viacom CBS’ decision and demanding ownership of “Wild ‘N Out.”
“Viacom … is now on the wrong side of history,” Cannon wrote. “Instead, the moment was stolen and highjacked to make an example of an outspoken black man. I am disappointed that Viacom does not understand or respect the power of the black community.”
But later Wednesday, he also issued an apology via Twitter.
“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 series of tweets. “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.”
