Nick Cannon's Engagement With Jewish Community Opens Door For Possible ViacomCBS Reconciliation

Nick Cannon has been engaging with the Jewish community following his anti-Semitic statements that pushed ViacomCBS to drop him. Due to his recent effort, the mass media company is opening its door to the possibility of working with him again.

ViacomCBS cut ties with Cannon over his anti-Semitic remarks in his podcast "Cannon's Class." However, Chris McCarthy, president of entertainment and youth brands at ViacomCBS, praised Cannon's effort to make up with the Jewish community and hinted that he’s "hopeful" that the company would rebuild its partnership with Cannon.

"I struggle with the fact that Nick, a longtime partner and friend of ours, is on this journey and we’re not part of that journey," McCarthy responded when asked about Cannon in a statement obtained by Variety.

"I am hopeful we find a way to bring these two things together and hopefully we will have the opportunity to do that with Nick again.”

McCarthy also talked about how Cannon was wrong, hurtful and offensive for his anti-Semitic remarks. He then shared that he has been following the artist since the incident and praised the way “The Invitation” hitmaker handled the setback.

“I don’t know if anyone has been following Nick’s journey since the incident – I have, and the thing that’s unique about Nick – different from many others, is that Nick owned it,” McCarthy said.

“He apologized, he said it was wrong. He has since been on a journey of learning and understanding, and more importantly, he is using his voice to help educate other people and is becoming an advocate on this issue. This is consistent with the Nick I’ve known for ten years.”

A ViacomCBS source told Variety that Cannon and McCarthy have spoken in the recent weeks. However, at the time, there was no plan for Cannon to work with the company again.

Meanwhile, Fox chose to retain Cannon as the host of its reality singing competition “The Masked Singer” despite the controversy. The network made the decision after having a dialogue with Cannon, who apologized for his statements.

“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 apologized, and quickly taken steps to educate himself and make amends,” Fox said in a statement.