Actor Nick Cannon has come under fire for having white supremacist Richard Spencer on his October 12 podcast.
Mediaite reported that Cannon had Spencer on his podcast “Cannon’s Class,” where Cannon said that he didn’t understand why there is a holiday for Christopher Columbus. Spencer defended Columbus as “amazing.”
Cannon retorted, “He came and started f—ing with people. People were enjoying themselves and he brought famine, disease and just raped and pillaged everything.”
Spencer told Cannon that “at some level, you have to own the blood and guts,” pointing to the Haitian Revolution; Cannon defended the Haitian Revolution as people fighting back against being enslaved.
Cannon then asked Spencer why people like him “want to protect the statues of losers.” Spencer replied that it’s because they were “great,” prompting Cannon to call them “great losers.”
A very intense and intriguing debate with the controversial @RichardBSpencer about today’s holiday. Why does Christopher Columbus have a holiday again??? @cannonsclasstv #RichardSpencer #CannonsClass https://t.co/qKMCwv7SgF
— Nick Cannon (@NickCannon) October 13, 2020
Cannon was criticized for giving Spencer a platform.
“Nick Cannon: I’m sorry, I’m not antisemitic I don’t hate Jews, really!” Stop Antisemitism.org tweeted. “Also Nick Cannon: let’s host Neo Nazi Richard Spencer and piss off some more Jews.”
Nick Cannon: I’m sorry, I’m not antisemitic I don’t hate Jews, really!
Also Nick Cannon: let’s host Neo Nazi Richard Spencer and piss off some more Jews https://t.co/dT7KwnDtRI
— StopAntisemitism (@StopAntisemites) October 13, 2020
Journalist Yashar Ali responded to Cannon, calling Spencer “controversial” by tweeting, “He’s not a reality show star, he’s a white supremacist. My god.”
“The controversial”?!!?
He’s not a reality show star, he’s a white supremacist. My god. https://t.co/l0GVo7zQCV
— Yashar Ali 🐘 یاشار (@yashar) October 13, 2020
Daily Wire contributor Harry Khachatrian also tweeted, “So after losing his improv comedy show over anti Semitic comments, Nick Cannon is now hosting a self-avowed white supremacist to discuss Columbus Day on his talk show?”
https://twitter.com/Harry1T6/status/1315994579032829952?s=20
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Spencer “has become more openly anti-Semitic in recent years,” pointing to how Spencer said in 2014 and 2016 that he doesn’t “consider Jews to be European (i.e. white in alt right nomenclature)” and that he believes in establishing a white ethnostate. Spencer was also the keynote speaker at the 2017 Unite the Right protests in Charlottesville, Virginia. In 2016, Spencer shouted “Hail Trump!” at a Washington, D.C. event hosted by the National Policy Institute think tank, of which he is the president. At that event, audience members responded to Spencer with Nazi salutes, which Spencer did not condemn. Spencer has since endorsed Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden for president, but Biden’s campaign immediately disavowed Spencer.
Cannon previously came under fire for saying in 2019 that people are “giving too much power to the ‘they’ — and then the ‘they’ turns into the Illuminati, the Zionists, the Rothschilds.” Cannon also praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as “uplifting” and said that Blacks were the real Hebrews. His remarks caused ViacomCBS to terminate its relationship with Cannon; Cannon had been hosting the show “Wild N’Out” on MTV and VH1.
The “Masked Singer” host has since apologized for his remarks and said in an August American Jewish Committee (AJC) webinar that he has attempted to atone for his comments through reading Jewish literature and meeting with members of the Jewish community. In July, Cannon had Simon Wiesenthal Center Associate Dean Rabbi Abraham Cooper on “Cannon’s Class” to discuss anti-Semitism and called Bari Weiss’ “How to Fight Anti-Semitism” book a “powerful read” later in the month.
However, during that AJC webinar, Cannon said that while he doesn’t stand for Farrakhan’s “hateful” comments, he has seen the Nation of Islam leader “transform the lives of incarcerated individuals.” Cannon added that “I can condemn the message but I can never condemn the messenger.”
