Fox News co-host Meghan McCain said that antisemitism is still “the last form of passable bigotry in America” in response to an apology musician, comedian and stand-up comic Nick Cannon made in an ABC interview after antisemitic comments he made, Decider reported on Wednesday.
“This isn’t just about Nick Cannon,” said The View co-host. “It’s why we, as Americans, seem to find more forgiveness in our heart for antisemitism than we do of racism of any other kind.”
Sunny Hostin, another co-host on the show, praised Cannon's apology, saying "I actually thought that was quite eloquent. An apology is an acknowledgement of your failure, of what you’ve done. But an atonement goes further. Atonement, in my mind and in my view, is a sort of reparation … You are doing the work of making amends for the wrong you’ve done. An apology is weightless unless you are making those amends.”
“He sounds like he’s working on himself, and he’s trying to do better,” said Joy Behar, another co-host. “I like that he’s having meetings with rabbis, etc., and they’re coming together and really talking about this. So, that’s good.”
“His statements were really egregious when it first came out. And he has apologized, and now he’s actually talking about the Hebrew concept of teshuvah, which, my understanding of it, it means not only forgiveness, but it means if you’re confronted with a similar situation, you won’t repeat your actions," said McCain, admitting that Cannon is "clearly doing real work with Jewish leaders and trying to atone.”
McCain added, however, “I think my concern is, for some reason, antisemitism is something we let people forgive a lot easier than any other forms of bigotry and racism,” noting that “we’re having conversations about canceling Dr. Seuss,” but not works with “deeply antisemitic characters.”
“I find that people who say antisemitic things are forgiven a lot easier than anything else,” added The View co-host, “And I think that’s something we really need to examine as a society.”
In a podcast in July, Cannon said black people are the “true Hebrews” and repeated ideas from Melanin theory, which claims people with dark skin have advantages over non-black people and their respective contributions to world culture and history had been edited out. Cannon claimed non-blacks are “barbaric”, an idea he took back in the ABC interview.
Cannon received tremendous backlash for his comments on Cannon’s Class podcast and his working relations with CBS was cut short. Fox accepted his apology and he resumed his role as the host of The Masked Singer. He donated his first paycheck from that program to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
“I am not seeking forgiveness,” Cannon told ABC. “I am seeking for-growth.”