Cannon Apologizes, Fox Shows Support
• What a difference a day makes — Nick Cannon issued an apology Wednesday evening for the anti-Semitic comments made during the June 30 episode of his podcast, Cannon’s Class that featured former Public Enemy member Richard Griffin, a.k.a. Professor Griff — comments that set off a social media firestorm and resulted in ViacomCBS, the home of Cannon’s Wild ‘N Out brand, terminating its 20-year business relationship with Cannon.
In a Wednesday evening Facebook post, Cannon said, “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 [Professor Griff]. 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. While the Jewish experience encompasses more than 5,000 years and there is so much I have yet to learn, I have had at least a minor history lesson over the past few days and to say that it is eye-opening would be a vast understatement.”
He added, “I want to express my gratitude to the Rabbis, community leaders and institutions who reached out to me to help enlighten me, instead of chastising me. 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.”
Shortly thereafter, Fox, the home of the wildly popular The Masked Singer, which Cannon hosts and executive produces, issued a statement in support of the entertainer, confirming that he will retain his job. The statement, as it appears in Variety, reads, “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. 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.”
