Nick Cannon recently shared how the controversy and backlash he faced for his antisemitic statements in 2020 was a huge moment of growth.

In 2020, during an episode of his podcast Cannon’s Class, the TV host gave his opinion on why Black people can’t be antisemitic due to what they’ve endured in America and worldwide. He had this conversation with former Public Enemy member Richard “Professor Griff” Griffin, who also faced backlash and was kicked out of his music group for antisemitic comments he made in the late 1980s

“The Semitic people and language have nothing to do with white people,” he said, according to Complex. “It’s never hate speech; you can’t be anti-Semitic when we are the Semitic people. When we are the same people who they want to be. That’s our birthright,” Cannon said, before adding, “we are the true Hebrews.”

On Friday, AllHipHopTV published an interview with the comedian on its YouTube channel. During the discussion, Cannon was asked about his current feelings on the Black and Jewish culture conversations, as it’s been a few years since he offended the Jewish community with his comments. He said that experience helped broaden his perspective in more ways than one.

“Man, I’m going to be super honest with you, man. That process was a growth moment for me, on so many levels as a man,” the 42-year-old told AllHipHopTV.

In addition, he shared how that moment caused him to gain more knowledge from his Jewish peers. Cannon also mentioned that his podcast, Solutions: To Hate or Not to Hate, which he co-hosts with Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, has not only been helpful to him, but is an example of how having a simple conversation can eliminate clashing between people.

“I even, now, we have a podcast, myself and the CEO of the ADL, Jonathan Greenblatt, called Solutions: To Hate or Not to Hate. And it’s really talking about the equation of our two communities from two different perspectives,” the father of 12 said. “We voice our side or the perspective as a Black man, and then he voices his side from a Jewish man. Just even that alone is helpful and educational for both communities. And again, because that’s the thing, we can sit up here and be enraged, but if we don’t engage, what are we really doing if we can’t even learn from one another? And clearly, we all know the issues, we all know the tropes, we all know the stereotypes.”

He then expressed that when the blowup happened, he didn’t want to take the low-vibrational route of not diving deeper and learning why his comments may have been offensive.

“Again, I’m no longer about just talk. We can sit out on every podcast and talk about what we believe and who we are, but once the podcast go off, don’t nothing happen, what did you really do? And that’s one of the reasons, if I’m really about that generational wealth, that’s why I created Future Superstars. If I’m really about connecting with a community and finding solutions, that’s why we created that podcast. I’m really putting my money where my mouth is and my energy to where my heart is,” Cannon said.

“It’s easy to hear the low frequency. Because you don’t got to do much, and a negative begets a negative. But if you really trying to elevate, you got to put some effort behind that. I’m not mad at it. I know how to play the game, just like the best of them, but if I’m really at the position in my life and where I’m at, I really got to create solutions and opportunities for others,” he added.