As the public relations disasters progress, the one that engulfed Nick Cannon last week was fascinating to watch, and instructive on the limited powers of public apologies.
The downside to having a career in show business as impressively diversified as his was that all of his projects threatened to fall like dominoes around him. One production partner pulls out, putting pressure on the next, and then the next, and so on.
That’s what Cannon seemed to set in motion Monday after anti-Semitic comments he made on his own podcast, and the absence of a later apology, prompted ViacomCBS to end its long-standing relationship with him. It seemed only a matter of time before other partners went online behind ViacomCBS.
But then damage control finally kicked in. After mishandling his first apology, Cannon issued a longer second mea culpa with the echo of Fox, the home of the hit unscripted series “The Masked Singer.” The broadcast network cited his apologies and his willingness to engage in dialogue with Jewish leaders to better educate himself as the reasons the company supported the actor.
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Perhaps the network was acknowledging a genuine sense of contrition that came to Cannon a little later than it could have hit other people in his shoes. But skeptics might suggest Cannon’s change of heart really was the belated realization of how much more he had to lose once ViacomCBS broke ties after his first half-hearted attempt to tackle his despicable podcast comment.
It just shows how something as cheap and easy as choosing the right words in the wake of controversies like this can make the difference between avoiding the kind of coup ViacomCBS dealt with and generating the kind of support Fox delivered.
With Fox now at his side, Cannon was able to avoid taking down the following dominoes: his morning radio show and his next new talk show slated to launch in the fall. If Fox had followed the example of ViacomCBS, he could very well have lost both concerts as well.
Instead, Cannon’s other associates were able to make moves that showed they were responding to his bigotry, but his actions could be charitably seen as patting the wrist: Meruelo Media, owner of her radio home, Power 106, put her appearances on her program “paused” for an undetermined time. Then his talk show producer Debmar-Mercury announced his own decision to postpone Cannon’s bow for the fall of 2021.
A delay of a year may seem like a high price to pay for Cannon, but it’s actually the only move Debmar-Mercury could make before eliminating the show entirely. The cloud that would have hung over the release of his bigoted comments just a few months earlier would have made it impossible to cultivate the less controversial image that a show like this requires, an image that Cannon effectively exploded to pieces.
Companies backing Cannon are calculating that in the controversial hyperspending news cycle of American culture, the missteps that just made them look so gruesome will now be a distant memory not too long in the future. future. All Cannon really needs to do in the coming months is what he couldn’t do last week: keep his mouth shut and let the public’s collective amnesia kick in so that he can resurface at some later point and work on the charms that did it. so popular first.
Cynics might suggest that the strategy will work well enough to restore Cannon’s career. After all, all it took was a redacted apology to position him for a comeback.
But perhaps Cannon’s return isn’t so easy to accomplish. Perhaps his critics will not leave it that easy when he returns behind the microphone in Power106 or on the stage of “The Masked Singer”.
If Cannon is really serious about leaving this episode behind him and not ruining his career, he should consider taking advantage of the platform that his many connections in show business allow him to truly demonstrate the evolution he claims to be making.
If you’re consulting with rabbis to better understand the fallacies you uttered on your podcast, why not use your radio show, for example, to share that education with the public instead of just telling us about these conversations? As we have seen from the words of NFL star DeSean Jackson, Cannon is not alone in expressing ridiculous views on Jews who might see his interview with Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Wiesenthal Center.
The truth is, there is a segment of the audience that will never accept Cannon for what he said this week. But if you want to not only save your main appeal, but make a real difference in the world, backing up your words with real action is the only way to go.
