Nick Cannon has had talks with Viacom about renewing relationship

Source: Ira L. Black – Corbis / Getty

Nick Cannon might be the only celebrity to drive to the brink of cancelation, slam on the brakes, and live to tell about it.

This week, Variety published an article detailing how Viacom, the parent company of damn near all of television, has done a semi-about face when it comes to their seemingly dissolved relationship with Nick after the outrage over his anti-Semitic comments. As we know, shortly thereafter Nick sought the counsel of many prominent Jewish community leaders who explained where he had them f**ked up at. Unlike many celebs who have been chided for social offenses, Nick seems to have internalized the critique and had a come-to-Yahweh moment if you will.

Cannon offered a public apology via Twitter back in mid July, telling fans that he was sorry for his anti-Semitic remarks:

“First and foremost 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 during my interview with Richard Griffin”. Cannon continued, “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. The video of this interview has since been removed.”

Speaking at a town hall with employees Monday, Chris McCarthy, president of entertainment and youth brands at ViacomCBS, praised work that Canon claims to have done to make amends for his comments and gain a better understanding of why they were offensive. McCarthy described himself as “hopeful” that the company and Cannon would find a way to rebuild their partnership.

The plan to reconcile isn’t immediate but Variety notes that Cannon and McCarthy have spoken recently and talks will continue.

“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 said in response to a question about Cannon. He added later, talking about the media company’s ability to connect storytelling and important social issues, “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.”

Seems like contrition and a genuine apology along with investing in the work of being better might just pay off for Nick. Perhaps other loud-and-heada$$ celebrities could learn something from this.