*Nick Cannon says he has embarked on a “journey of atonement” following the backlash he caught last summer for allegedly making anti-Semitic comments.
We previously reported, ViacomCBS initially curbed Cannon after the actor/rapper/TV host suggested that Black people can’t be anti-Semitic because “the Semitic people and language have nothing to do with white people.”
“It’s never hate speech, you can’t be anti-Semitic when we are the Semitic people,” he stated during a conversation with Profesor Griff on Cannon’s podcast. “When we are the same people who they want to be. That’s our birthright.”
“Our melanin is soul power and it connects us in a way that the reason why they fear black…is the lack that they have of it,” Cannon said.
Adding, “Melanin comes with compassion. Melanin comes with soul, that we call it soul, we soul brothers and sisters, that’s the melanin that connects us so the people that don’t have it, are, and I’m going to say this carefully, are a little less and where the term actually comes from, and I’m going to bring it back around to Minister Farrakhan, where they may not have the compassion.”
ViacomCBS cut ties with Cannon following the backlash over the comments, which many claimed dismissed the idea that white Jewish people can’t be subjected to anti-Semitism.
READ MORE: Nick Cannon Reunites with ViacomCBS for New Season of ‘Wild ‘N Out’
NEW: Nick Cannon Exclusive. A truthful and intimate conversation, facing all the hard questions.
Don’t miss the powerful new episode of #SoulOfANation. Watch Tuesday night at 10|9c on ABC. pic.twitter.com/HpDv7DuLkb
— ABC News (@ABC) March 11, 2021
ViacomCBS condemned Cannon’s “hateful speech” and failure to “acknowledge or apologize for perpetuating anti-Semitism.” After the network pushed him out of his popular MTV/VH1 series “Wild ‘N Out,” Cannon ultimately issued an apology and invited a Rabbi on his podcast to discuss his remarks.
Cannon addressed the controversy during a sit down on Tuesday with ABC anchor Linsey Davis on “Soul of a Nation” and noted that he is trying to make amends for his behavior.
“I’ve always said that apologies are empty. Apologies are weightless,” Cannon said. “In Hebrew they call it, you know, ‘Teshuva,’ the process of not only you know, repenting, but through that, if you’re ever met with a similar situation that you make a different decision. That goes beyond apologizing.”
“And I’m on this journey of atonement, not to get a job, not to gain any more money because that’s not what’s needed here. I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do,” he added.
We are having THAT conversation with @NickCannon #SoulOfANation pic.twitter.com/oRMf1uxj4g
— Soul of a Nation (@SoulofaNation) March 17, 2021
“I hurt people,” he continued. “I’m going to lean into it. I want to understand why I hurt you, what did I say? What are these tropes? Educate me.”
“My journey’s not going to stop whether the person watching this forgives me or not,” he said. “I’m still going to hopefully, through this process, be on the right side of history and bring people closer together.”
Following his apology to the Jewish community, Cannon and ViacomCBS resumed their working relationship and will move forward with production on the upcoming season of his hit VH1 show “Wild ‘N Out.” He was also ordered to donate his first paycheck from “The Masked Singer” season 4 to the Jewish Wiesenthal Center.
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