Moving forward. Fox announced its decision to keep Nick Cannon as host of The Masked Singer after he issued an apology for his recent anti-Semitic remarks.
“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,” the network said in a statement to Us Weekly on Wednesday, July 15.
“Nick has sincerely apologized, and quickly taken steps to educate himself and make amends,” Fox continued. “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 released its statement minutes after Cannon, 39, reversed course and apologized for his comments.
“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,” he said in a statement to Us. “They reinforced the worst stereotypes of a proud and magnificent people, and I feel ashamed of the uninformed and naive place that these words came from.”
After confirming that the interview, which was part of his “Cannon’s Class” podcast, has been removed from YouTube, Cannon said he has “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.”
The comedian came under fire after saying on the June 30 episode of his podcast that Black people are the “true Hebrews” in addition to discussing several anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. He responded to the backlash twice in the days that followed but did not apologize until Wednesday evening.
In the wake of the scandal, ViacomCBS, the parent company of networks including MTV and Nickelodeon, fired Cannon after decades of working together. He subsequently slammed the mass media conglomerate via Facebook for making “an example out of an outspoken Black man” and demanded “full ownership” of his MTV series Wild ’n Out.
