ViacomCBS, which has MTV and Nickelodeon among its assets, has said it’s severing its relationship with TV host Nick Cannon, after he was accused of racism and anti-Semitism for a series of bizarre claims in a resurfaced clip.
The multinational media conglomerate accused Cannon – who has been a host for ‘Wild ‘n Out,’ a comedy show broadcast by Viacom’s MTV and VH1 for over a decade – of “promoting hateful speech” and “spreading anti-Semitic conspiracy theories” in a statement on Tuesday, shortly after an episode of his ‘Cannon’s Class’ podcast went viral.
“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,” the company said.
The clip, uploaded to Cannon’s YouTube page on June 30, but believed to be filmed in 2019, shows Cannon interviewing former Public Enemy member Richard Griffin (who left the group under allegations of anti-Semitism for allegedly saying that “all Jews are wicked” in a 1989 interview).
Also on rt.com ‘We will not be lectured’: Russia stands by Putin calling pro-Hitler Polish WWII envoy ‘bastard & anti-Semitic pig’In the video, Cannon argues that the ‘real’ Semitic people are black, and therefore cannot be accused of anti-Semitism, arguing that black people “are the same people who they [Jews] want to be.”
“That’s our birthright... we are the true Hebrews,” Cannon went on. While the discussion initially appeared to be more about anthropology than anything else, Cannon then rehashed a popular conspiracy theory that rich Jews have the world firmly under their thumb, saying that theory goes “as deep as the Rothschilds, centralized banking, the 13 families, the bloodlines that control everything even outside of America.”
While ViacomCBS cited Cannon’s unconventional take on Jews and anti-Semitism as the pretext to fire him, the company has been called out for failing to address another segment of Cannon’s podcast that has gained traction on Twitter, and has drawn accusations that the entertainer is a “black supremacist.”
In the segment, Cannon argues that white people, who have less melanin than black people, are less compassionate and more sinister, explaining that their ancestors had to brave harsh weather to survive.
“When you have a person that has the lack of pigment, the lack of melanin, they know that they will be annihilated, so therefore, however they got the power, they have the lack of compassion,” he said.
Also on rt.com ‘Open anti-Semitism’: Leaked letter shows Ukrainian police demanded Jews’ names & addresses ‘to fight organized crime’Since white people lack the “power of sun,” he argued, they were forced into the life of “savages,” who endure in their “fear” of black people centuries later.
“They're the ones that are actually closer to animals, they're the ones that are actually the true savages,” he said of white people.
The fact that ViacomCBS seemingly did not take as much of an issue with Cannon’s controversial comments about race in their criticism has provoked accusations of hypocrisy.
“It was more than just anti-Semitism, he said people without melanin were ‘less.’ That’s more than just Jews,” one commenter argued.
“All the non-Jewish white people he said the same thing about is fine though [of course],” another said.
Facing backlash for what many saw as incendiary comments, Cannon penned a lengthy Facebook post, arguing that his musings were not meant to be offensive. “Anyone who knows me knows that I have no hate in my heart nor [malicious] intentions. I do not condone hate speech nor the spread of hateful rhetoric,” he wrote on Monday.
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