Cannon recently told shock jock Howard Stern, 'If they fire me... then I can sue them then I can create a whole controversy, NBC hates black people.'
- Feb 11, 2017
AceShowbiz - Nick Cannon reportedly almost lost his job on "America's Got Talent" over a joke in a stand-up comedy special. In the special that was recorded more than a month ago, he joked that NBC was making him lose his "black card," which meant the network wanted him to show less swagger on "AGT".
The joke reportedly did not sit well with NBC which thought that it was disparaging. Additionally, Cannon has a contract that states he can't speak about the network without running it by them first, so the network's execs thought he breached the contract.
NBC got a wind of Cannon's joke when he promoted his special on "The Howard Stern Show". When Stern asked the comedian if he was worried if the material in the special would bother NBC, he jokingly responded, "If they fire me... then I can sue them then I can create a whole controversy, NBC hates black people."
However, after much discussion, the network's execs thought that Nick had simply made a passing comment and decided to keep him because they like him as host, TMZ reports.
The "black card" joke reportedly is not removed from the special that airs Friday, February 10 on Showtime.