Nick Cannon Willing To Risk His Life To Evoke Change: There’s ‘Nothing More Important’

Nick Cannon says he’s ready to put everything on the line in the ongoing fight for racial justice, which he’s long been a part of.

“I’m just as hurt and pissed off as I am about George Floyd as I am about Mike Brown,” the “Nick Cannon Radio” host, who recently got a degree in criminology from Howard University, told Access Hollywood’s Scott Evans. “About Sandra Bland. About so many – Philando Castile, so, so many … the laundry list of names. Even in the same week as George Floyd, there was four other police killings.”

“Obviously this one was recorded on camera, and I think to see a white man kneeling on the neck of a black man as he takes his last breath, and the white man has his hands in his pockets, so cavalier in a crisis – that we have now normalized trauma,” he added. “You know what I mean? [That] we see public lynching daily on cycle on a feed, is something we can’t normalize. And it hurts my heart, and I cry at night, man. It’s hard to even wake up every day knowing that we have to get back into this fight. But we’re going to do it. We’re going to do it. I’m ready to put my life on the line for this, because there’s nothing more important to my community, nothing more important to my family. Nothing more important to me, than to evoke change in a real way.”

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Risking his life isn’t hyperbole for Nick; “The Masked Singer” host was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease in 2012. Still, getting out to protest amid the coronavirus pandemic was never a question for him, considering the significance of the cause.

“I’ve almost lost my life to health concerns many times, so I’ve kind of always been a little bit more careful when it comes to my immune system than most,” he said. “But in a matter like this … it’s so much more demanding of our energy. It’s pretty easy to follow rules, the rules of quarantine. And it’s frustrating cause people are losing jobs, frustrating cause people are not being able to spend time with loved ones. But when you got to step out there and protest and speak and stand for your people in the same way that our ancestors did, being on that front line is a little more demanding. So it takes one’s spirit to say, ‘What is more important: my own health concerns, or the concerns of humanity?’ And that’s where I commend the people who are peacefully protesting and putting their lives on the line.”

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Nick was quick to join protests in the wake of the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. The “Wild ‘N Out” host traveled to Minneapolis last week and told Access Hollywood about the hope he encountered there.

“Being on 38th Street, where George Floyd’s life was tragically stolen from him, I saw tears,” he recalled. “I saw flowers. I saw prayers. People holding each other of all races, of all demographics. There were children there getting some clarity, some understanding. That community came together in a strong way. I know what we’ve seen in the media and the burning of the precinct, but I’m talking specifically right there in that community on 38th Street. Man, they came together. They prayed, from all different spiritualities. The Muslim community came out, the Christian community came out, the city councilman came out. And they were all there, in that community, standing firm. There was disappointment in law enforcement, 100 percent, but there was not a disappointment in that community.”

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Nick wrote about his decision to go to Minneapolis in an essay for Variety, in which he also opened up about his children’s perceptions of law enforcement.

“When you see a police officer, you’re supposed to feel safe. They’re supposed to protect you. My kids are scared of police officers. In their minds, they’re the bad guys,” he wrote in the essay.

“I made a statement that my children fear police, and it’s a real statement,” Nick told Access, adding that he tries to “teach fearlessness” as a parent. “I try to teach, ‘You have a power within you that you need to fear nothing.’ But when they see the energy of law enforcement: ‘Uh oh, here comes the police.’ So that mindset of ‘sit up straight and don’t talk, keep your hands where they can see them.’ When are things that I’m talking to a 3-year-old about or 9-year-olds about. They bring those questions to me.”

“Growing up, there was an idea where one wanted to be a police officer. ‘Aw man, I want to help and protect and serve people,’” he added. “But now, I don’t understand why this generation – well, I do understand – it has definitely changed, where they perpetuate fear. And it’s something that’s hurtful to have that conversation with your children, but you want to protect them at the end of the day.”

Watch Access’ full interview with Nick above.