Nick Cannon Reflects on 'Journey of Atonement' Since Anti-Semitic Commentary Controversy

Nick Cannon is reflecting, and moving forward.

The 40-year-old star is speaking out about making anti-Semitic comments on his podcast last year, which resulted in him being fired from ViacomCBS before repairing the relationship again this year.

“I’ve always said that apologies are empty. Apologies are weightless. In Hebrew they call it, you know, ‘Teshuva,’ the process of not only you know, repenting, but through that — if you’re ever met with a similar situation that you make a different decision. That goes beyond apologizing. And I’m on this journey of atonement, not to get a job, not to gain any more money because that’s not what’s needed here. I’m doing this because it’s the right thing to do,” he explained in an interview with Yahoo.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper of Simon Wiesenthal Center spoke with Nick on a follow-up episode on his podcast. Nick also completed an undergraduate degree in criminology at Howard University last year, and is pursuing a master’s degree in divinity.

He then taped a follow-up podcast episode with a group of Jewish community leaders at the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism.

“I’ve actually heard a Jewish person of color say, ‘When I walk in the room, they don’t know I’m Jewish. When I walk in the room they know I’m Black,’” he explained.

Yolanda Savage-Narva, from the Union for Reform Judaism and who is Black and Jewish, participated in the taping, and said: “The opportunity to sit down and talk to one another and share and learn together is something that both communities need to do to actually get to. To know one another, to get to know one another’s story, to get to know the things that hurt one another, the things that are triumphant for one another.”

Nick also recently helped to kick off the Black-Jewish Entertainment Alliance, which was created to foster communication between the Black and Jewish communities.

“My journey’s not gonna stop, whether the person watching this forgives me or not. I’m still gonna hopefully through this process, be on the right side of history and bring people closer together,” he said.

Find out why Nick Cannon was temporarily replaced as host on The Masked Singer.