Nick Cannon opened up about the state of his mental health in the wake of MTV’s parent company, ViacomCBS, firing him for making anti-Semitic remarks.
The Masked Singer host, 39, mourned the loss of his friend rapper Ryan Bowers — who recently committed suicide — in an emotional tribute via Instagram on Saturday, July 18.
“After waking up & barely rising from my own dark contemplation of continuing my physical existence on this planet, this powerful warrior actually had the balls to do it,” he captioned a photo of the two of them.
Cannon explained that Bowers had been shot by police and spent months in a coma before coming into the studio to record music. The All That alum recalled Bowers telling him, “Everything still hurts.”
He added, “Once again my brother you have put this world in perspective for me. You would do that quite often because I never understood how someone who was experiencing sooo much pain could still laugh and smile through it all.”
Cannon was let go from ViacomCBS on Tuesday, July 14, after he made anti-Semitic remarks on a June episode of his “Cannon’s Class” podcast. The former America’s Got Talent host demanded that the company — which owns networks such as MTV and Nickelodeon — give him ownership of his series Wild n’ Out.
One day later, he issued an apology explaining that he is now dedicated to creating “deeper connections” with the Jewish community.
“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,” he told Us Weekly in a statement. “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.”
Fox accepted his apology and a spokesperson for the network told Us they hoped to “move forward” with Cannon, who has hosted Fox’s The Masked Singer since 2019.
Cannon posted another message that made fans concerned for his well-being on Friday, July 17.
“I hurt an entire community and it pained me to my core, I thought it couldn’t get any worse. Then I watched my own community turn on me and call me a sell-out for apologizing. Goodnight. Enjoy Earth,” he tweeted, adding “Y’all can have this planet, I’m out!”
If you or someone you know is in emotional distress or considering suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
