Nick Cannon's anti-Semitic comments placed him between a rock and a hard place. After offending a whole culture and demographic of people, Cannon took it upon himself to apologize. Doing this, it only opened himself up for scrutiny from other Black people. As a result, T.I. used his recent appearance on The Breakfast Club to address cancel culture's cannibalistic nature and more.
First, T.I. discussed his now infamous Crime Stoppers commerical. When Charlamagne brought up Boosie Badazz condemning T.I. for doing the commerical, Tip said Boosie’s position was an “extraordinary circumstance.”
I’m not willing to tell on nobody to keep from doing long numbers and to cancel out millions of dollars in my career but to keep from doing a drop to tell citizens to do what citizens are already able to do, I’m gonna do that every time,” he said. “If I catch another case, you can expect another commercial.”
He continued, “I don’t have any angst or regret or anything,” he added. “I don’t feel guilty or bad about it. I ain’t put nobody in jail — ever. If it’s a difference between telling on somebody and a commercial, I’m going to take the commercial every time.”
Later, he got into Nick Cannon's apology.
"Whether you agree or disagree with the apology, you don't use it to villainize or slander one of our national treasures," Tip said nearly 30 minutes into the interview. This comes after T.I. urged people to put Cannon's actions in perspective when judging him.
"I just really feel like if a mistake was made, then he has to rectify that mistake. But it ain’t our job to cancel him. First of all, let’s look at Nick Cannon's career and his reputation. Look at how many Black people he put in position and helped and got off of zero. Look at how time after time after time, he's made contributions to the culture," T.I. says. "I think that has to speak for him. Especially when it comes to our people—on our behalf, how we deal with him—we have to look at that."
He continued, "You gotta give him consideration. You must give him consideration. Fair and reasonable consideration. We must hold him accountable if necessary, but we can't just discount and discard our people because don't no one else do they people like that. Why we expected to throw ours away when they make a mistake?"
During an episode of his Cannon's Class podcast with former Public Enemy member, Professor Griff, Nick Cannon made several anti-Semitic comments. Not only did this result in the end of Cannon's long relationship with ViacomCBS, but the backlash also triggered some seemingly suicidal thoughts that appeared to be rooted in the way Black people reacted 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. "Y’all can have this planet. I’m out!"
This isn't the first time T.I. has backed Cannon. After hearing that Viacom and MTV were cutting ties with the Wild 'n Out creator, Tip demonstrated how Black people are treated in America in an Instagram post that read: "Hmmm... Nick Cannon loses his job faster than any of the cops who killed Breonna Taylor."
Along with supporting Cannon, T.I. also touched on his quest for reparations. Last week, the rapper penned an open letter to the Lloyd’s of London insurance company demanding that it pay reparations for its role in the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade.
"When people say reparations they think about a one time pay off. I don't think it's ever going to be no one time pay off. We have to create an economic base," T.I. said at around the 16:00 mark when asked what reparations look like to him. "That's what we're lacking right now. We do not have an economic base. We have the value of our spending power. But, when we take that dollar and put it outside our community, then it is not an economic base at that point. It benefits others at that point. For it to benefit us, we must create a self-sustainable economic base."
Tip then transitioned to America's current fight for equity. Although he delivered a controversial plea to residents in Atlanta to stop rioting early into these uprisings, T.I. shows a firm understand as to why these demonstrations are necessary.
"This country and our position in this country was founded on violence, intimidation, and fear tactics. So, the way you begin a situation is the way it'll end," he explained to The Breakfast Club at around the 20-minute mark. "Our journey in this country from the time we got here to today, has lead up to this. We've seen all indications that this is what it should lead up to...although I hate it, it's inevitable I feel like. Until we stand up and do something to stop the atrocities that's happened to us, they will persist."
Watch T.I.'s full appearance on The Breakfast Club above.
