Over the past few weeks, Nick Cannon has been quite vocal about his stance on the upcoming election. From speaking out at marches and rallies to speaking frankly on socia media posts, Cannon has made it clear that he will not be voting in the 2016 presidential election, and now he’s confirmed his decision on national television.
Cannon sat down with Access Hollywood Live guest co-hosts Niecy Nash and Nina Parker to talk about the Black Live Matter movement and his reasons for sitting this year’s presidential election out. “The pageantry of the presidency, I am not really for that,” Cannon told AHL. “I encourage everyone to exercise their right [to vote]. I mean there is lot of people that died and fought for the right to vote. Me personally, I don’t like the pageantry of it, it’s a popularity contest.”
Although the America’s Got Talent host won’t be participating in the presidential election, he wants to make it clear that he will be voting in his local elections. “I feel that local government is specific to our community. A lot of people get up there and argue and debate about Hillary or Donald Trump and then you ask them who their city councilman is, and they say ‘I don’t know’. I think we got to start in the community.”
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The Wild n Out MC began his campaign to boycott the upcoming election after the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. Last week, Nick joined a rally outside the Republican National Convention, and stood with Black Lives Matter supporters as they wore t-shirts that read “I Ain’t Voting Until Black Lives Matter.” He captured the moment on Instagram, and captioned his photo by saying “Today we stood strong!!”
Cannon also posted a video to his Instagram page titled, “Life is Political.” The shows a patriotic Nick standing outside of a voting center in a place he calls “Anywhere, FL.” The approximate one-minute video shows Cannon being questioned about his reasons for being at the voting center followed by a poem that tells society to “#staywoke.”
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