Nick Cannon says he’s ‘on journey of atonement’ following backlash
'I'm doing this because it's the right thing to do.'
Nick Cannon is opening up about his bounce-back journey following his controversial remarks about Black Hebrews and Jewish people on his podcast last summer.
Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of ABC’s Soul of a Nation, the TV host and actor dished about how he has embarked on a “journey of atonement” after being labeled anti-Semitic, which, per PEOPLE, resulted in him getting fired by ViacomCBS. After apologizing to the Jewish community, and being reprimanded by a prominent rabbi, the broadcast giant agreed to work with Cannon again, and his long-running comedy series Wild ‘N Out will return, per The Hollywood Reporter.
Read More: Nick Cannon to return to ‘Wild N’ Out’ after mending relationship with ViacomCBS
“I’ve always said that apologies are empty. Apologies are weightless,” Cannon said during his appearance on Soul of a Nation on Tuesday. “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.
Following his apology over his alleged anti-Semitic comments, Cannon will also continue to host the Fox series, The Masked Singer. As previously reported by theGrio, Cannon’s talk show, titled Nick Cannon, will also see the light of day after being placed on pause due to the scandal.
“It’s been a longtime dream of mine to host my own daytime talk show and that I’m able to do this in New York City, bringing daytime television back to the place that has fostered generations of talent, is very special to me,” said Cannon in a statement per Variety. “With this show, we’ll be uniting all aspects of entertainment in a unique way in the very place where a lot of what we know today as our culture started. I couldn’t ask for better partners than Debmar-Mercury and Fox and thank them for supporting me in this endeavor.”
Read More: Nick Cannon gets second shot at daytime talk show after controversial comments
During his candid conversation on Soul of a Nation, Cannon explained that he is now focused on his personal growth as he continues to educate himself.
“I hurt people,” he said. “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 continued. “I’m still going to hopefully, through this process, be on the right side of history and bring people closer together.”
Last year, the co-presidents of Lionsgate’s Debmar-Mercury, Ira Bernstein and Mort Marcus, said if Cannon sincerely learned from the situation, they would revive his talk show, which was supposed to launch last September.
“We, along with our many other strong broadcast partners, are excited to be able to bring Nick’s unique, light-hearted and entertaining style to the daytime audience starting this fall,” Marcus and Bernstein said in a statement.
*theGRIO’s Keydra Manns contributed to this report.
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