*Nick Cannon sent Simon Cowell a nice bottle of champagne to mark the first day of filming on his old show, “America’s Got Talent,” but Cowell was quick to reveal that none of his fellow judges, or even new host Tyra Banks, got such special treatment from the TV talent.
“I didn’t know much about [Cannon’s exit] — maybe I should have known more about it,” Cowell, 57, told “Entertainment Tonight.” “I mean, look, the point is that he was the first to send me a bottle of Champagne on the first day … which interestingly, he didn’t send to the others.”
Cannon, 36, quit the NBC series in February after network brass reportedly took issue with a racial joke he made in a Showtime stand-up special. NBC denied that execs had threatened to fire Cannon, who hosted the show from 2009 to 2016.
Cowell’s fellow judges for Season 12 are Melanie “Mel B” Brown, Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel, with supermodel Banks taking over Cannon’s hosting gig.
“I didn’t know that Nick wasn’t going to be on the show until about two or three weeks before we started filming, and no one told me about this stuff,” Cowell added. “Anyway, it happened. I spoke to him, I thought he was going to come back but he wasn’t — then he was, wasn’t — and then in the end, we decided to start filming without him. After one day, we get a phone call — Tyra Banks wants to meet. I thought I was being [pranked] to be honest with you.”
The former “American Idol” judge thinks Banks, 43, will do well in her new role.
“The hardest thing is when you’re trying to replace someone who has been really good, and you don’t want someone who’s going to be the same kind of personality,” he said. “I mean, look, she’s funny, she gets it. From what I’ve seen so far, I think she is having a good time.”
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