Nick Cannon made anti-Semitic comments recently during a discussion with Public Enemy figure Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin. ViacomCBS fired him while many people voiced their criticism. WWE wrestler Goldberg did not immediately respond, but he has since released a long statement about the “unprovoked attack” on Judaism.
Goldberg posted a flashback video on Instagram that showed him putting on Tefillin in memory rabbis killed in Har Nof. This video took place in 2014, but Goldberg used it to help deliver a message to those making anti-Semitic comments. He addressed Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson, former NBA player Stephen Jackson, Philadelphia Eagles defensive lineman Malik Jackson and Cannon. He asked them to educate themselves before opening their mouths.
Videos by PopCulture.com
View this post on Instagram
“To [Nick Cannon] and #thejackson3 …. [Malik Jackson] [DeSean Jackson] [Stephen Jackson Sr.]
I’ve been stewing since the latest unprovoked attack on my religion,” Goldberg wrote on Instagram. “My initial thoughts on this matter were very dark……so I held back. I don’t freely offer my opinions especially in today’s society but enough is enough. I don’t have a military background but logic would tell me that one of the first rules of engagement is properly identifying your enemy. Please educate yourselves before you open your mouth. We are all in this together. You attack the Jewish people you attack me.
“Most Jewish people don’t look like me, don’t act like me and don’t respond like me and in a microcosm that is an example of a FLASHBACKFRIDAY. Today is a new day and that mentality is old news. Get ready for a new normal. And just like [Julian Edelman] said, we can all learn together. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t know everything BUT I’m always willing to learn. There has to be a better way for us all.”
Cannon initially prompted criticism when he and Griffin discussed anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. He cited the teachings of Minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, a group the Southern Poverty Law Center designates as “deeply racist, anti-Semitic and anti-LGBT.” Cannon referred to Black people as the “true Hebrews” and said that those lacking melanin are “savages.”
“When you’d have a person that has the lack of pigment, the lack of melanin, that they know that they will be annihilated,” Cannon said in the now-deleted interview. “So, therefore, however they got the power, they have the lack of compassion that — melanin comes with compassion. So the people that don’t have it are a little — and I’m going to say this carefully — are a little less. And where the term actually comes from, because I’m bringing it all the way back around to Minister Farrakhan.”
Cannon later apologized for his comments and deleted the interview from his YouTube page. He later posted two cryptic tweets about the reactions to his apology. “I hurt an entire community and it pained me to my core, I thought it couldn’t get any worse. Then I watched my own community turn on me and call me a sell-out for apologizing. Goodnight. Enjoy Earth,” Cannon tweeted. He also said that “Y’all can have this planet. I’m out!”
Disclosure: PopCulture is owned by CBS Interactive, a division of ViacomCBS.
