ViacomCBS host Nick Cannon has been terminated following racist remarks about white and Jewish people.
During the episode, Cannon says of white and Jewish people that “they’re the ones closer to animals” and are the “true savages.”
“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.
When they were sent to the Mountains of Caucasus, they didn’t have the power of the sun. The sun started to deteriorate them. So, they’re acting out of fear, they’re acting out of low self-esteem, they’re acting out of deficiency, so therefore the only way they can act is evil.
They have to rob, steal, rape, kill, and fight in order to survive. So these people who didn’t have what we have, and when I say ‘we,’ I speak of the melanated people, they had to be savages, they had to be barbaric because they’re in these Nordic mountains, they’re in these rough torrential environments, so they’re acting as animals, so they’re the ones closer to animals, they’re the ones that are actually the true savages.”
Nick Cannon says white people are "a little less," "closer to animals," "the true savages," "acting out of a deficiency so the only way they can act is evil." When does he get canceled? pic.twitter.com/vK3TBDW9i8
— Adam Ford (@Adam4d) July 14, 2020
The video segment has gone viral and has understandably garnered backlash from across the social spectrum. Despite the clearly derogatory nature of his comments, Cannon defended himself on his Facebook page saying he does “not condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric,” and that “we all family.”
“Anyone who knows me knows that I have no hate in my heart nor malice intentions. I do not condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric. We are living in a time when it is more important than ever to promote unity and understanding.The Black and Jewish communities have both faced enormous hatred, oppression persecution and prejudice for thousands of years and in many ways have and will continue to work together to overcome these obstacles.
When you look at The Media, and other sectors in our nation’s history, African Americans and The people of the Jewish community have partnered to create some of the best, most revolutionary work we know today.
I am an advocate for people’s voices to be heard openly, fairly and candidly. In today’s conversation about anti-racism and social justice, I think we all – including myself – must continue educating one another and embrace uncomfortable conversations – it’s the only way we ALL get better. I encourage more healthy dialogue and welcome any experts, clergy, or spokespersons to any of my platforms to hold me accountable and correct me in any statement that I’ve made that has been projected as negative. Until then, I hold myself accountable for this moment and take full responsibility because My intentions are only to show that as a beautiful human species we have way more commonalities than differences, So let’s embrace those as well as each other. We All Family!??”
While Cannon says that he denounces hate speech, one could only imagine the outcry of “hate,” “racism,” and “bigotry” had a white or Jewish person said that black people are “savages” or “closer to animals.”
ViacomCBS issued a statement in response to Cannon’s remarks, indicating his termination from the media group and their intentions to pursue better, healthy dialogue:
“ViacomCBS condemns bigotry of any kind and we categorically denounce all forms of anti-Semitism. We have spoken to Nick Cannon about an episode of his podcast Cannon’s Class on YouTube, which promoted hateful speech and spread anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. While we support ongoing education and dialogue in the fight against bigotry, we are deeply troubled that Nick has failed to acknowledge or apologize for perpetuating anti-Semitism, and we are terminating our relationship with him. We are committed to doing better in our response to incidents of anti-Semitism, racism, and bigotry. ViacomCBS will have further announcements on our efforts to combat hate of all kinds.”
