Former “Love and Hip Hop: Hollywood” star Masika Kalysha recently spoke out against multinational mass media conglomerate Viacom in defense of rapper and comedian Nick Cannon.
The “Wild ‘n Out” host was recently fired by ViacomCBS for making what were interpreted as anti-Semitic comments on his YouTube series “Cannon’s Class.” Celebrities such as rapper T.I. and Diddy have shown their support for the “Drumline” actor, and now Kalysha has been added to the list.
In an exclusive interview with Atlanta Black Star, the reality star and entrepreneur called Viacom “disgusting” and “unprofessional” for how the company cut ties and “attacked” Cannon following his controversial remarks.
“Nick is a very close person to my family,” Kalysha said. “I think Viacom is disgusting. I think that they are the biggest racists and bigots, period. I think it was very distasteful and unprofessional for the way they came at Nick, how they decided to attack him, and especially with all the skeletons in their closet.”
Kalysha continued, “Viacom right now is trying to hide the fact that they recorded a Black man being killed on one of their police shows that they have that Big Fish was the producers of, a Black man was murdered on camera and they deleted the footage and tried to bury it.”
She’s presumably referring to the death of Javier Ambler in Austin, Texas. In March 2019, Ambler was killed while being arrested for a traffic violation. He reportedly tried to flee from sheriff deputies and was tasered multiple times. The victim’s death was captured on A&E show “Live PD,” which Big Fish Entertainment produced. Although “Live PD” is not a show under ViacomCBS, the network still severed ties with Big Fish after Ambler’s death.
“Live PD” producers destroyed the footage of Ambler’s arrest, KVUE reported. An ongoing investigation for the incident continues.
She suggested that Viacom’s actions toward Cannon were hypocritical.
“You’re attacking Nick for saying his beliefs about Black people and the power that we possess we don’t know that we have because it’s been hidden in history to diminish how we see ourselves. He’s under wraps for that, but what about the Black man that got murdered that you guys deleted. Like, we know about this.”
Kalysha called Viacom the “oppressor” and added, “Dig for skeletons in your closet before you go trying to do that.”
She also referred to Cannon’s recent and now-deleted Instagram posts that suggested he was contemplating suicide. He used the geo-locations “Heaven” and “goodbye Earth.” When speaking about his friend Ryan Bowers, who recently died from suicide, Cannon said he’d been dealing with a “dark contemplation” about continuing his “physical existence on this planet.”
Kalysha explained that the backlash and Viacom’s “attack” on the “Masked Singer” host affected his mental health. She noted that “if something happens to Nick it’s on their conscience.”
In a Twitter rant last week, the mother of one expressed the negative experiences she encountered when working with Viacom on “LHHH.” She claimed the company “blackballed” her from multiple shows, including “Wild ‘n Out,” “Hollywood Squares,” and “Love & Listings” because she refused to “film degrading dumb a– fake s–t made to tarnish my image & integrity.”
“All they do is the objectify Blk ppl…& make us look like the stereotype that’s been emplanted into our heads since childhood,” Kalysha further tweeted. “Smfh they love a broken black home, an abortion, a dead beat dad, baby momma drama, a side b*tch scandal…they will create any & everything possible to make u look as ghetto as they possibly can 4 some chump change. My integrity wasn’t for sale. My boundaries were crossed time & time again. I made it abundantly clear that my child wasn’t going to be a storyline & anything that could negatively effect her would be off limits.”
Kalysha starred on VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop” Hollywood franchise from 2014-2018. She quit the show due to the negative portrayal of her image.
