ViacomCBS dropped Nick Cannon after he tried to spread anti-Semitic conspiracies on his podcast. The company said it “troubled” them because he “failed to acknowledge or apologize” for his actions.
However, Cannon told Fast Company that he “can’t wait to sit down with” rabbis who contacted him about his remarks. He wants them to educate him and have an open dialogue about the topic. Cancelling him ends the chance to educate not just Cannon, but his large audience.
ViacomCBS released this statement Tuesday night:
Cannon hosts The Masked Singer on Fox. He has a show on E!, which is under NBCUniversal, called Celebrity Call Center.
Fox and NBCUniversal have not released any statement about Cannon.
Cannon came under scrutiny this weekend when he reposted a video he filmed last year with Richard Griffin.
Cannon praised notorious anti-Semitic Louis Farrakhan and spread anti-Semitic theories in the video.
Griffin, aka Professor Griffin, belonged to the group Public Enemy in the 1980s. The group ousted him later in the decade after he made anti-Semitic remarks in numerous interviews.
Cannon brought up those interviews:
In the reposted video with Cannon, the TV host praised Griffin for having “the most substance and weight in speaking unapologetically… and you stuck to your guns.”Early in the 90-minute video, Griffin said that the semitic people and the semitic languages “have absolutely nothing to do with any white people.” Cannon then chimed in: “The semitic people are black people.” Griffin and Cannon agreed that the term “antisemitic” is used to divide people and “neutralize” criticism.In the video with Cannon, Griffin attempted to distance himself from the comments that got him fired from Public Enemy — “they put that on me… I never said these things.” In a 1989 interview with The Washington Times, Griffin said: “The Jews are wicked. And we can prove this,” and said that Jews are responsible for “the majority of wickedness that goes on across the globe.” Griffin told Cannon that during that now-infamous interview, he was merely “speaking facts” about who controls the music industry. “I’m hated now because I told the truth,” he recalled of his dismissal in 1989, repeatedly referencing “the Cohens and the Moskowitzes.”
Cannon then tried to spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories:
Cannon later referenced “going as deep as the Rothschilds, centralized banking, the 13 families, the bloodlines that control everything even outside of America.” Cannon claimed that when people understand who the real Jewish people are, “it’s never hate speech, you can’t be antisemitic when we are the semitic people. When we are the same people who they want to be. That’s our birthright.” He later added that “we are the true Hebrews.”Cannon also spoke about “giving too much power to the ‘they’ — and then the ‘they’ turns into the Illuminati, the Zionists, the Rothschilds.”Cannon has praised Farrakhan repeatedly on his YouTube show, saying that “every time I’ve heard him speak, it’s positive, it’s powerful, it’s uplifting… for whatever reason, he’s been demonized.”
He alleged “that people who lack sufficient melanin are ‘a little less.'” Cannon believes that people who do not have dark skin come with a “deficiency,” which has “forced them to act out of fear and commit acts of violence to survive.”
“They had to be savages,” Cannon stressed.
He even admitted the “they” include “Jewish people, white people, Europeans.”
On Monday, Cannon tweeted out a response, but it was not an apology:
Cannon received backlash for the non-apology. He told Fast Company:
“To me apologies are empty. Are you forcing me to say the words ‘I’m sorry’? Are you making me bow down, ’cause then again, that would be perpetuating that same rhetoric that we’re trying to get away from,” Cannon says. “What we need is healing. What we need is discussion. Correct me. I don’t tell my children to say, ‘I’m sorry.’ I want them to understand where they need to be corrected. And then that’s how we grow.”“You can say sorry in as many different languages as you want to, and it means nothing,” Cannon continues. “But until someone truly understands where they may have been wrong or where they may have offended someone, then that’s where growth occurs.”
Cannon also said that rabbis contacted him after the podcast came out. He expressed an eagerness to have them on his show. I have to say I like his response:
“My podcast is specifically an academic podcast to have tough and difficult conversations based off of text. And if we read something and something’s not accurate, let’s do away with it,” Cannon says. “I can’t wait to sit down with some people that can help educate me and help further this conversation. I want to be corrected.”
If Cannon truly doesn’t understand why his remarks and views are anti-Semitic, he needs to learn the truth. Most people double down or brush aside the criticism.
Cancel culture sucks because no one will ever learn if we cancel people instead of furthering the dialogue. I am glad that Cannon did not double down and instead wants to learn. He also wants others to learn from the rabbis and others.
Good for him.
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