Source: Noam Galai / Getty
crafted a media empire as the face of several hit television shows and a million-dollar production company seen as one of the more successful ones owned by a Black person. Cannon is now the subject of an explosive discussion happening on social media right now after ViacomCBS cut ties with him over perceived
antisemitic remarks.
On a recent episode of the star’s
Cannon’s Class series, Cannon had Professor Griff of Public Enemy fame as a guest on the show. Griff infamously was ousted from the veteran Hip-Hop outfit for antisemitic comments, and that informed a portion of their discussion.
Cannon expressed an idea that Black people are the original Hebrews and also spoke on conspiracy theories involving the Rothschild family that have circulated on the Internet and abroad for years.
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“It’s never hate speech, you can’t be anti-Semitic when we are the Semitic people,” Cannon shared at one point in the chat. “When we are the same people who they want to be. That’s our birthright. We are the true Hebrews.”
ViacomCBS caught wind of the comments and ended their partnership with Cannon while later issuing a statement.
“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,” read a portion of the statement.
Cannon took to social media to comment on the news and has not appeared to back down from his comments.
“heart nor malice intentions. I do not condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric. We are living in a time when it is more important than ever to promote unity and understanding,” Cannon wrote.
He added, “Until then, I hold myself accountable for this moment and take full responsibility because My intentions are only to show that as a beautiful human species we have way more commonalities than differences, So let’s embrace those as well as each other. We All Family.”
On Twitter, the news of Cannon’s split with ViacomCBS spread wide, with some wondering where shows like his popular
Wild ‘N Out series on VH1, part of the ViacomCBS umbrella, and shows like Fox’s
The Masked Singer which he serves as a host.
We’ve got reactions from all sides listed out below.
To hear the portion of the chat that has folks talking, hop to the 48:00-minute mark.
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Photo: Getty
