When Nick Cannon was fired by ViacomCBS as the host of MTV’s Wild n’ Out following anti-semitic comments on his podcast, he still had a talk show in the works.
In the aftermath of the backlash, however, it has emerged that it will no longer debut this year.
“The ‘Nick Cannon’ talk show will not debut this year,” Lionsgate and Debmar-Mercury, the producer and distributor of the nationally syndicated talk show, said in a statement to Deadline.
“After conversations with Nick, we do believe that his public comments don’t reflect his true feelings and his apology is heartfelt and sincere,” the statement continues.
“We want to continue the healing process as he meets with leaders of the Jewish community and engages in a dialogue with our distribution partners to hear their views.”
“We are standing by Nick in our hope that by fall 2021 he will be able to use his extraordinary talent and platform to entertain, enlighten and unite his audience on the ‘Nick Cannon’ talk show.”
The statement concluded: “Lionsgate and Debmar-Mercury condemn anti-Semitism, racism and hate speech. It runs counter to everything we stand for.”
ViacomCBS cut ties with Nick last week for promoting “hateful speech” and spreading “anti-semitic conspiracy theories” on his podcast.
He quickly hit back at ViacomCBS, saying that he wanted full ownership of the Wild n’ Out franchise.
However, he later apologized and changed his stance.
“I extend my deepest and most sincere apologies to my Jewish sisters and brothers for the hurtful and divisive words that came out of my mouth,” he said.
“They 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.”
That apology allowed the host to continue to appear on The Masked Singer.
He is clear and remorseful that his words were wrong and lacked both understanding and context, and inadvertently promoted hate,” FOX said in a statement.
“This was important for us to observe. Nick has sincerely apologized, 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.”
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Paul Dailly is the Associate Editor for TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter.