Nick Cannon Leaving 'America's Got Talent' Over Joke Dispute

(Radio.com) Nick Cannon announced he has quit America's Got Talent on Monday (February 13th), after hosting the show for the past eight seasons and he opened up about his reasons why on Facebook.

In a lengthy post, Cannon explained how NBC executives weren't happy about an upcoming comedy special he'd shot. "After days of deliberating over some extremely disappointing news that I was being threatened with termination by Executives because of a comedy special that was only intended to bring communities closer together, I was to be punished for a joke," Cannon wrote.

According to Cannon, the executives thought he was in breach of contract because the comedy special portrayed their brand in a negative light. But he sees things differently. "Or is this just another way to silence and control an outspoken voice who often battles the establishment," he wrote. "Recently many of my mentors have cautioned me that soon 'The System' would come down on me because I was speaking too many truths and being to loud about it." Read more here.