Nick Cannon

• 1. Introduction

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  Nick Cannon is an American comedian, actor and rapper who once hosted a stunt in which a human cannonball was fired into slime. It happened at Nickelodeon's 2005 Kids' Choice Awards, and the ceremony called it the slime stunt. The moment suits a career built on loud, fast, public entertainment. Cannon began as a teenage cast member on a children's sketch show. He went on to front talent contests, game shows, a daytime talk show and a costumed singing competition, while releasing rap records that often lost out to his television schedule. Three questions run through his story. How does a kid from a public access cable program become one of American television's most familiar hosts? Why did he walk away from one of the biggest shows he ever fronted? And what happened when his own words on a podcast cost him a job?

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• 2. San Diego Roots

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  Cannon was born on the 8th of October 1980 in San Diego, California. He was largely raised by his paternal grandfather. Both Cannon and his biological father called the older man "dad". As a child he lived in the Bay Vista Housing Projects in Lincoln Park, a gang-ridden part of Southeast San Diego. In his teenage years he was affiliated with the Lincoln Park Bloods street gang. He has said he left that life behind after losing a close friend. In 1998 he graduated from Monte Vista High School in Spring Valley, California. There he served as president of the African Student Coalition and took part in track and field. His first break in comedy came with stand-up on his father's local cable public access TV program. Decades later, in 2020, he went back to the classroom and graduated from Howard University. His Bachelor of Science was in Criminology/Administration of Justice, with a minor in Africana Studies.

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• 3. Records and Rivalries

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  As a teenager, Cannon rapped in a trio called Da G4 Dope Bomb Squad. The group opened for Will Smith, LFO, 98 Degrees and Montell Jordan. In 2001 he signed with Jive Records. He appeared with Romeo Miller and 3LW on the Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius soundtrack, covering the 1988 hit "Parents Just Don't Understand". His self-titled debut album arrived in 2003 and included the single "Your Pops Don't Like Me (I Really Don't Like This Dude)". Its lead single, "Gigolo", featured R. Kelly and peaked inside the top 30 of the Billboard Hot 100.

  In 2005 Cannon founded Can-I-Ball Records and planned a second album called Stages. Its first single, "Can I Live?", was an anti-abortion song released in July 2005. A second single, "Dime Piece", followed in March 2006. The album itself never came out, because his acting career took priority. He cancelled the label in 2009 and started NCredible Entertainment instead.

  In 2010 he invented a character called Slick Nick, a parody of the hip hop pioneer Slick Rick. One track, "I'm a Slick Rick", was a freestyle over Cali Swag District's "Teach Me How to Dougie", in which he tried to diss Eminem. Another, "Nick's Story", reworked Slick Rick's "Children's Story". His first mixtape, Child of the Corn, followed on the 6th of December 2011.

  On the 26th of July 2013 he premiered the single "Me Sexy". He announced that he was working on White People Party Music, more than seven years after Stages was shelved. Guests included Afrojack, Pitbull, Future and Polow da Don. The second single, "Looking for a Dream", appeared on the 11th of February 2014, with Afrojack. A second mixtape, The Gospel of Ike Turn Up: My Side of the Story, came out on the 16th of November 2016.

  The Eminem feud returned in December 2019. Eminem had appeared on "Lord Above" by Fat Joe and Dre, and the song dissed Cannon. On the 9th of December 2019 Cannon answered with "The Invitation". It featured Suge Knight, Hitman Holla, Charlie Clips and Prince Eazy, whom Cannon called "The Black Squad". Eminem replied with two tweets. The next day Cannon released "Pray For Him", with the same rappers plus Conceited. A solo track, "The Invitation Canceled", followed.

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• 4. Acting Career

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  In 1998 and 1999, Cannon turned up in the third season of the Nickelodeon comedy Kenan & Kel. That same period launched his run on All That. He was a main cast member in seasons 5 and 6 and returned as a guest in seasons 8 through 10. His own series, The Nick Cannon Show, ran in 2002 and 2003. It earned him a Kids' Choice Award for favorite television actor in 2002.

  Film work arrived quickly. In 2002 he played Devon Miles in Drumline, a role that drew him a nomination for MTV's Breakthrough Male Performance. He also appeared that year in Men in Black II. He voiced Louis in Garfield: The Movie in 2004 and Officer Lester in Monster House in 2006. He played Bernard in Roll Bounce in 2005. He took the title role in Chi-Raq in 2015, and he reprised Devon Miles in the 2014 television movie Drumline: A New Beat.

  Not every notice was kind. His supporting role in The Misfits, released in 2021, earned him a Golden Raspberry nomination for Worst Supporting Actor in 2022.

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• 5. Wild 'n Out and Beyond

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  Wild 'n Out is the show most closely tied to Cannon's name. He created, produced and hosted the MTV improv comedy series in 2005. When MTV2 announced a revival on the 12th of November 2012, it was produced by his NCredible Entertainment. Cannon said: "With our show's original cast, everyone from Kevin Hart to Katt Williams, Affion Crockett and Taran Killam becoming household names, I am looking forward to working with MTV2 as we work to introduce the biggest comedic stars of tomorrow with the return of Wild 'N Out." Season 5 premiered on the 9th of July 2013 to the highest ratings in MTV2 history. Seasons 6 and 7 aired in two blocks, and the eighth season arrived on the 4th of August 2016 after three record-breaking seasons.

  On the 1st of December 2012 he also launched TeenNick Top 10, a weekly countdown of popular videos that he shaped with his own picks. It ran until the 17th of March 2018, when TeenNick phased out all of its original programming.

  His hosting list is long. On the 4th of July 2011 he emceed the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest. In 2014 he began Caught on Camera with Nick Cannon on NBC. He co-hosted Lip Sync Battle Shorties, and from 2019 he became host of The Masked Singer. In February 2021 he tested positive for COVID-19, and Niecy Nash filled in during his quarantine. He came back as the wild card contestant "Bulldog" in the fifth episode and was eliminated by Nash's choice.

  Radio gave him another stage. On the 19th of January 2010 he began a 6-10AM morning show with Nikki and Southern Sarah Lee at 92.3 NOW FM in New York. He stepped down on the 17th of February 2012, citing health issues. He later led the syndicated chart show Cannon's Countdown, and he now hosts Nick Cannon Mornings at Power 106 in Los Angeles.

  A syndicated daytime talk show of his own, announced in 2019, premiered on the 27th of September 2021 after a brief hiatus. It was canceled in March 2022.

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• 6. Networks and Boardrooms

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  From 2009 to 2016, Cannon hosted America's Got Talent. In 2017 he announced he would not return, citing creative differences with NBC executives. The resignation followed reports that the network had considered firing him over disparaging remarks about NBC in his Showtime comedy special Stand Up, Don't Shoot. In a statement he said: "I love art and entertainment too much to watch it be ruined by controlling corporations and big business." He was pointing at the cable giant Comcast, which owns NBC. Cannon was technically still under contract, so NBC could in theory have sued him, though that was considered unlikely. Executives at first declined to accept his resignation and were reported to be hoping he would reconsider. The departure was ultimately accepted without further incident, and Tyra Banks took over as host.

  He had also been building an executive career. In 2009 he became chairman of the TeenNick channel for Nickelodeon, as well as its development and creative consultant. In 2012 he created the sketch-comedy series Incredible Crew, starring six teenagers. He wrote and produced the theme song, and Cartoon Network Studios made it with NCredible Entertainment. It aired 13 episodes before being canceled. On the 30th of November 2012, the NCredible Entertainment website reported a deal with NBCUniversal to produce scripted and unscripted programs.

  His most unusual title came in December 2015, when RadioShack named him "Chief Creative Officer" to appeal to a younger crowd. The company said the role involved creating RadioShack-exclusive products and curating the in-store experience. The NCredible line of consumer audio electronics launched the following February, starting with the NCredible1 Wireless Headphones.

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• 7. Fired and Reinstated

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  On the 14th of July 2020, ViacomCBS fired Cannon over an episode of his podcast, Cannon's Class with Professor Griff. On the show he endorsed conspiracy theories about Jewish control of finance and said Jews had stolen the identity of "black people as the 'true Hebrews'". He also cited Louis Farrakhan, whom the Poverty Law Center and the Anti-Defamation League label an anti-Semite. He made black supremacist statements too, calling white people "savages" who were "closer to animals" and relying on the pseudoscientific melanin theory. ViacomCBS said it ended the relationship because of his promotion of "hateful speech and... anti-Semitic conspiracy theories".

  Two days later he released an apology, but only for his remarks about anti-Semitism. In it he said: "I want to assure my Jewish friends, new and old, that this is only the beginning of my education." He also demanded complete ownership of Wild 'n Out and an apology from ViacomCBS for his termination.

  Fox took a different path. When the network learned of the podcast, it consulted him right away and accepted his public apology, which let him stay on as host of The Masked Singer. He donated his first paycheck from the show to the Simon Wiesenthal Center.

  On the 5th of February 2021, ViacomCBS announced that Wild 'n Out would resume production with Cannon as host. It said he had "taken responsibility for his comments" and "worked to educate himself" through conversations with Jewish leaders.

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• 8. Health and Family

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  On the 4th of January 2012, Cannon was hospitalized for what was described as "mild kidney failure". He returned to the hospital on the 17th of February 2012 after a pulmonary embolism. On the 5th of March 2012 he announced that his kidney problems were caused by lupus nephritis. In November 2024 he revealed he had been "clinically diagnosed" with narcissistic personality disorder, saying "I need help".

  In February 2007 he met the model Selita Ebanks. They became engaged after a public proposal in Times Square that May, but ended the engagement by October. On the 30th of April 2008, he married the singer-songwriter Mariah Carey at her private estate on Windermere Island in the Bahamas. Carey gave birth to fraternal twins on the 30th of April 2011. After six years of marriage the couple separated, and Cannon filed for divorce in December 2014. The divorce was finalized in 2016.

  He has since had children with several partners. With the model Brittany Bell he has three children, born in February 2017, December 2020 and September 2022. With the model Alyssa Scott he had a son in June 2021 who died of brain cancer at five months old, and a daughter was born in December 2022. Cannon said he briefly experimented with celibacy in late 2021, during a bout with depression after the death of his son. With Abby De La Rosa he has twin sons born in June 2021 and a daughter born in November 2022. The model and real estate agent Bre Tiesi gave birth to their son in June 2022, and the model LaNisha Cole gave birth to their daughter in September 2022.

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