Nick Cannon will remain as host of Fox’s The Masked Singer competition series, following his apology for anti-Semitic comments made on his podcast, “Cannon’s Class.”
Fox announced its decision to stand by Cannon Wednesday evening, after ViacomCBS ended its decades-long relationship with the Wild ‘N Out host.
“When we were made aware of Nick Cannon’s interview with Richard Griffin on YouTube, we immediately began a dialogue with Nick,” Fox said in a statement to the media. “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.”
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The Masked Singer premiered on Fox in January 2019, and is one of the highest rated series on television. Cannon also serves as an executive producer of the show.
Now that he has apologized, Fox said it wants to help him advance the conversation on race.
“Nick has sincerely apologized and quickly taken steps to educate himself and make amends,” the network said. “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.”
Fox’s statement came as Cannon issued a new apology on Twitter Wednesday evening.
“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 on 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.
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) July 16, 2020
As Urban Hollywood 411 previously reported, the actor and host sparked controversy while interviewing Public Enemy member Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin, as the two discussed race and racism. Video of podcast was posted to YouTube on June 30, but the clip has since been removed for “hate speech.”
Earlier Wednesday, Cannon wrote on Facebook: “I must apologize to my Jewish Brothers and Sisters for putting them in such a painful position, which was never my intention, but I know this whole situation has hurt many people and together we will make it right.”
ViacomCBS — which is parent company to VH1, MTV, BET Networks, Nickelodeon and CBS — said it was ending its relationship with Cannon after he earlier refused to apologize for his comments that “promoted hateful speech.”
He had to apologize to Jew’s but not white people? Why?
Get Cannon off the Mask Singer!
The Mask Singer will not bE successful as long as the show is hosted by Nick Cannon. I will watch the first show just to record the sponsors. Then we will not buy anything that those sponsors are associated with. I hope FOX wakes up and gets him off this good show.