Nick Cannon to AJC: 'I come from a Black and Jewish family'
“My great-grandfather was a Spanish rabbi. He’s a Sephardic Jewish man," said Cannon.
By JERUSALEM POST STAFFTeen Choice 2018 – Arrivals – Inglewod, California, US,12/08/2018 – Nick Cannon.(photo credit: REUTERS)Nick Cannon, an American entertainer, discussed his Jewish roots in a conversation with Rabbi Noam Marans as part of an American Jewish Committee (AJC) program. The Zoom conversation came after the entertainer received backlash last month for making antisemitic remarks in an episode of his podcast, “Cannon’s Class.”Cannon was criticized for saying that Black people are the “true Hebrews.”Cannon’s background came up after a viewer asked about the role that Black Jews can play in fighting antisemitism. He said that he hadn’t brought it up previously in public because he did not want to “use it as an excuse.”“My great-grandfather was a Spanish rabbi. He’s a Sephardic Jewish man. So, as much heat as I’ve been catching from the public and the outside, this hit home for my family in a real way because I come from a Black and Jewish family on my mother’s side,” Cannon said.Cannon explained that he hadn’t brought up his family's history sooner because he wanted to “truly atone and truly apologize.”He called Judaism “a welcoming culture and a welcoming people.”Cannon mentioned that he has been speaking with Israeli-American basketball star Amar'e Stoudemire about Judaism and said that they have discussed building Black and Jewish community centers in “disenfranchised” areas.He also praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, saying that “every time I’ve heard him speak, it’s positive, it’s powerful, it’s uplifting,” and that Farrakhan “has been demonized.”Farrakhan has called Jews “termites” and denounced the “Synagogue of Satan.”Cannon also spoke about the fact that he is studying for his PhD at the School of Divinity at Howard University, and joked that he hopes to get “college credit” for the studying of Jewish history that he has done since the podcast was released.
In addition to speaking about his background and the comments, Marans and Cannon spoke about Jewish-Black relations.Marcy Oster/JTA contributed to this report.
