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Nick Cannon to remain as The Masked Singer host after apologising over ‘antisemitism’ allegations

Presenter was fired by another US media company calling white and Jewish people ‘savages’

Isobel Lewis
Thursday 16 July 2020 03:38 EDT
Nick Cannon fired by US TV for spreading 'antisemitic conspiracy theories'

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Nick Cannon will remain as the host of The Masked Singer after apologising over allegations of "antisemitism".

The actor and TV presenter came under fire this week after appearing on a podcast calling white and Jewish "savages" and suggesting that they “lack compassion” because they don’t have melanin in their skin.

ViacomCBS, the US media giant for whom Cannon hosted a number of shows, including Wild ‘n’ Out, severed all ties with the presenter after he initially “failed to acknowledge or apologise for perpetuating antisemitism”.

However, after Cannon made a lengthy apology on Twitter, Fox has announced that it will not be terminating his role on The Masked Singer, which he has hosted for three seasons.

“When we were made aware of Nick Cannon’s interview with Richard Griffin on YouTube, we immediately began a dialogue with Nick,” Fox’s statement read. “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.

“Nick has sincerely apologised, and quickly taken steps to educate himself and make amends. 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.”

In the original video, which saw the TV presenter in conversation with former Public Enemy member Professor Griff, Cannon referenced a number of antisemitic conspiracy theories, including “the Rothschilds, centralised banking, the 13 families, the bloodlines that control everything even outside of America”.

Apologising for his words on Wednesday, Cannon said: “[My words] reinforced the worst stereotypes of a proud and magnificent people and I feel ashamed of the uninformed and naïve place that these words came from.”

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