After reports surfaced late last night that his daytime talk show was being canceled after just six months on the air, actor/comedian/personality Nick Cannon addressed the topic on this morning’s final live episode as part of the “Rumor Report” segment which features radio host Angela Yee from “The Breakfast Club” discussing the latest happenings in Hollywood.
Photo by Jocelyn Prescod/Debmar-Mercury
Asking Cannon to comment on the matter, Yee noted that various reasons have been cited for the show’s cancellation including low ratings (the show is averaging a mere 0.4 rating in syndication households) and the upcoming fall launch of “The Jennifer Hudson” which has already been cleared to air across the FOX Television Stations group which make up the primary stations for “The Nick Cannon Show.”
“This is show business,” Cannon told Yee and his audience. “We know the biggest word in that is ‘business,’ and this is a business. As a businessman, I know that as much fun as we have on the show business is the thing that makes this whole thing tick and operate. Honestly, I show up each and every day bright and early to give you a show, but I’m also a businessman and you understand when there’s certain platforms… this has been a dream come true for me. To be able to do this for you each and every day, but my business mind… I want to expand and elevate in a way so I’m gonna still be here. I’m still gonna do this.”
Indicating “we ain’t going nowhere,” Cannon alluded to taking his audience elsewhere. “It’s about broadening my audience and really tapping into my audience in a big way. What this has shown me over the last six months is together you guys have really become my family and this is the best working crew.”
In a statement released this morning, producing studio Debmar-Mercury confirmed the show’s cancellation, with Mort Marcus and Ira Bernstein, co-presidents of the company, saying, “It’s never easy to cancel a production with clear potential but, after a great deal of deliberation and examining various options, we have made the difficult business decision to end production on Nick Cannon.” They added, “We plan to offer viewers original episodes of the daytime talk show through the remainder of this season. Our thanks go to the very talented Nick Cannon and our wonderful production team, and we wish Nick continued success with his many hit ventures.”
Reportedly, today’s final taping of the “The Nick Cannon Show” was originally set to be the last before a planned five-week hiatus due to the busy schedule of the talk show host who would be off filming episodes of both “The Masked Singer” and “Wild ‘N Out.” The daytime talk show’s crew instead will receive several weeks’ pay as part of a severance package as they seek new work opportunities. The show is said to have enough episodes already shot that will keep on the air with originals through its May series finale.
Watch Cannon address his show’s cancellation below.