Nick Cannon Turned Down a Lot of Money From NBC to Leave ‘America’s Got Talent’
Nick Cannon’s lucrative hosting gig on America’s Got Talent only added to his high net worth. But when Cannon walked away from the series, the show’s network NBC wanted to make him even richer by doubling his salary. At that point, however, Cannon already made up his mind about leaving the show.
No amount of money could’ve brought Nick Cannon back to ‘America’s Got Talent’
Cannon was on America’s Got Talent for eight seasons, hosting the reality competition series from 2009 to 2016. A fan of the series himself, Cannon needed little convincing when he was offered the opportunity to do the show.
“I was never thinking about it, [but] I really dug the show and loved the idea. They were like, ‘You’re promoting a film and we’re trying to win awards. Tell me one award-winning actor you know that hosts a reality show,’” Cannon said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t care about all of that. I want to do what I want to do, and I want to have fun. It was one of the best decisions I ever [made].”
But after several years on the show, problems emerged when Cannon performed his Netflix comedy special Stand Up, Don’t Shoot. During the set, he did a joke about the network NBC being racist, which NBC didn’t take too kindly to. NBC threatened to fire Cannon from America’s Got Talent for the material. But the threat alone severed Cannon’s relationship with NBC, and the rapper decided to quit the show on his own terms.
“I now have to set out on a journey of freedom as an artist. As I was quoted in a recent interview, ‘You can’t fire a Boss!’ and that is the essence that I possess,” Cannon once wrote on his Facebook. “So I wish AGT and NBC the best in its upcoming season but I can not see myself returning. As of lately I have even questioned if I want to even be apart of an industry who ultimately treats artists in this manner.”
But it seems NBC had a quick change of heart when Cannon decided to leave the show. According to the Wild n’ Out host, the organization was willing to double his original America’s Got Talent salary to keep him on. But the damage had already been done.
“They came back and doubled down with more money,” he said on Big Boy’s The Big Interview. “A lot of money, like twice what I was already making because for the optics of it, they didn’t want it to look like it was their fault. Especially when you put race and stuff involved. So, they was trying to make it good and clean it up and all of that. And I was like, ‘I don’t want your money.’”’
After Cannon officially left, he was replaced by Tyra Banks, who certain fans considered to be the show’s weakest host.
Nick Cannon claimed he made more money after leaving ‘America’s Got Talent’
It wasn’t just NBC who wanted to keep Cannon on the show. The Drumline star’s own team urged their client to change his mind, feeling that his job was far too profitable to throw away. But Cannon stuck to his guns.
“People on my own team, people that were with me, man, like they scared for me. And I was like, ‘Yo, that job doesn’t define me.’ … As an artist, that was a self-defining moment, because a lot of people was like, ‘How can you walk away from such an amazing job? You’re the No. 1 host on television, highest-paid,’ all of that stuff. And I was like, ‘None of that stuff matters to me. I’m an artist, and it’s not about money. It’s about having my own self-worth,” Cannon told Yahoo.
But in the long run, Cannon claimed that he was paid more after leaving the show than he ever was when hosting America’s Got Talent. His income increased so much that he felt his only mistake was perhaps not quitting sooner. Judging from the fact that he’s still one of the richest hosts the show’s ever had, it seems he didn’t need the hosting gig all that badly.
“I’ve probably made so much more money since walking away from [AGT] and doing it the way that I wanted to do it. I’m almost like, ‘Man, I should’ve stepped away earlier,’” he claimed. “You ever had those decisions where you’re kind of in your comfort zone and so you kind of go about the mundane process, and as soon as you step out of your comfort zone it’s all of this freedom and the universe starts to just throw so many things in your direction? That’s what happened. I’m elated with everything that I’ve been doing since I stepped away from America’s Got Talent.”
Since then, Cannon has had several projects to keep him busy. He’s still hosting his long-running sketch comedy show Wild n’ Out. Additionally, he found a new show to host in Fox’s The Masked Singer, which has also been paying him nicely.
