Nick Cannon and ViacomCBS met after the former host of Wild ‘N Out was fired last summer for what the company called “hate speech and … anti-Semitic conspiracy theories”. That means the improv competition, which was renewed at VH1 for another three seasons before Cannon’s controversial comments, will soon return to production, sources close to Deadline said.
ViacomCBS says Cannon apologized, took responsibility for his comments, partnered with Jewish leaders to educate themselves and became an advocate for anti-hate.
“I want to assure my Jewish friends, young and old, that this is just the beginning of my education – I am committed to deeper connections, deeper learning and strengthening the bond between our two cultures today and every day going forward” , Cannon said in a statement Thursday.
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In a July 2020 episode of your podcast Cannon class, Cannon discussed race and racism with former Public Enemy member Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin. Referring to the ideas of the leader of the Nation of Islam Louis Farrakhan, Cannon said that people who have “a lack of pigment” are “a little less” than those who have, and have “a lack of compassion”.
He continued: “They are acting out of fear. They are acting with low self-esteem. They are acting due to a disability. Therefore, the only way they can act is evil. They have to steal, steal, rape and [unintelligible] in order to survive. “
The comments generated online anger and prompted ViacomCBS to split up. Cannon was also preparing his eponymous Debmar-Mercury daytime talk show, which was scheduled for a reverence in the fall of 2020 in 90% of the country before the controversy delayed this project as well. Cannon will now launch this fall.
Cannon created, produced and hosted the original Wild ‘N Out on the 2005-2007 MTV. It went back on air in 2013 with the new version, Nick Cannon Presents: Wild ‘N Out, in which Cannon and guest celebrities lead a team of improv comedians in a face-to-face competition.
Cannon also hosts Fox’s The masked singer, which will go into production in Season 5 this week without Cannon for now, while he is recovering from Covid-19.