Nick Cannon condemned anti-Semitic statements from Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan but refused to denounce the leader himself.
Cannon, who said he is taking steps to educate himself after facing accusations of promoting anti-Semitism, differentiated between Farrakhan’s leadership within the black community and his anti-Semitic remarks during an interview with the American Jewish Committee’s Rabbi Noam Marans on Monday.
“I’m never here to defend an individual, but I’m also — God has never given me the power to throw away or condemn anyone. You know, especially when I come from a culture of condemnation, and people have been treated less than human. So I can’t ever throw away a leader to the black community,” he said after being asked a question about the Nation of Islam leader from a virtual audience member.
He spoke to what Farrakhan has done as “a leader” in the black community, but he noted that he “can never stand” for “anything hateful.”
“I’ve watched him transform the lives of incarcerated individuals. You know, people were dealing with the sickness of addiction, turn into the discipline of Islam and watch these people create families and provide for their loved ones. I mean, he’s, he put together the greatest peace gathering in the history of the world. I mean, the numbers describe itself with the Million Man March. So for us, we see that. … The words and the demagoguery and the hate speech that your community, specifically the Jewish community, has experienced, I can never stand for anything hateful.”
The rabbi responded to Cannon by saying the entertainer’s answer was “not fully satisfactory.”
Cannon then joked that he had found himself in “good trouble,” a reference to the late civil rights icon John Lewis, but the rabbi wasn’t amused with the comparison.
The rabbi said that Cannon had found himself in the situation “because of the narratives that you had heard from others as your leaders. And therefore, because you have gone down this road, you have a responsibility, I think, to call it out. The stereotypes and the blaming and, frankly, the evading of a narrative that will actually heal and address the issues as opposed to laying at the foot of a boogeyman.”
Last month, Cannon was accused of anti-Semitism for commentary during an episode of his YouTube talk show Cannon’s Class, which featured Richard Griffin, also known as Professor Griff from the Public Enemy rap group. During their conversation, both pushed anti-Semitic tropes, including some concerning the Rothchilds, and alleged that they couldn’t be anti-Semitic because the real Semites are black.
ViacomCBS fired Cannon from his improv show Wild ‘N Out, but Fox kept him aboard for The Masked Singer.
