Teen Choice Awards 2018: Host Nick Cannon Leans Into Controversy, Says ‘Nothing’s off Limits’

Nick Cannon, co-host of Sunday’s Teen Choice Awards on Fox, won’t shy away from controversy. The rapper-actor-filmmaker told The Hollywood Reporter that “nothing’s off limits” when he takes the awards stage with Lele Pons.

A year after Cannon was fired from hosting America’s Got Talent over a racial joke, he and Pons will host the 20th broadcast of the awards show, which he said it “going to be one of those fun, wild summer shows.”

“I like to attack everything in a comedic way if possible,” the 37-year-old told THR. “Nothing’s off-limits.”

Cannon says he embraces controversy because he thinks it’s important to encourage young people to use their voices.

“If you live in this world, you’re political. It’s more about social commentary. The youth definitely love to voice their opinions and utilize their voice when it comes to any topic, so I’m going to definitely reflect that. We need it,” he said.

The Wild ‘N Out creator said he makes a good Teen Choice Awards host because he knows how to “tap into youth culture.”

“[Wild ‘N Out is] about having fun, being true to yourself, being a brand that knows how to tap into youth culture,” he said of the show that he created in 2005 and was revived in 2013. “It’s a platform where you can constantly stay young and stay relevant.”

He might know a thing or two about tapping into youth culture — after all, he started his career as a teen. When asked about what advice he has for kids in the entertainment business, he said, “Continue to be yourself. Don’t be apologetic about voicing your opinion and being who you are.”

Cannon attended the 2018 Nickeoldeon Kids’ Choice Awards earlier this year with ex-wife Mariah Carey and their 6-year-old twins, where they wore matching outfits. Cannon and son Moroccan rocked orange and white hooded sweatsuits while Carey and daughter Monroe donned a Grease-style look.

A few months later, Carey revealed a bipolar diagnosis after living with it for nearly 20 years.

“For a long time I thought I had a severe sleep disorder,” Carey told PEOPLE. “But it wasn’t normal insomnia and I wasn’t lying awake counting sheep. I was working and working and working … I was irritable and in constant fear of letting people down.”

She continued, “It turns out that I was experiencing a form of mania. Eventually I would just hit a wall. I guess my depressive episodes were characterized by having very low energy. I would feel so lonely and sad — even guilty that I wasn’t doing what I needed to be doing for my career.”

Cannon praised his ex-wife after she revealed her diagnosis, telling Entertainment Tonight that he was “in awe of her strength” and the way she handled the pressures of fame.

“I have never seen one person have to deal with so much and have the weight of the world on their shoulders and cameras constantly in their face — every angle you turn, there is someone snapping a picture, wanting you to be on, and she does it with so much grace and so much poise,” Cannon told ET.