Nick Cannon is drawing attention after declaring that Democrats are “the party of the KKK” and expressing support for President Trump during a newly released episode of his web show “Nick Cannon’s Big Drive.”
The entertainer, 45, made the remarks while interviewing model and outspoken Trump supporter Amber Rose as the two cruised around California in a topless Chevrolet K5 Blazer.
“People don’t know that Democrats are the party of the KKK,” Mr. Cannon said. “People don’t know that Republicans are the party that freed the slaves.”
The claim that the Democratic Party is to blame for the creation of the Ku Klux Klan is misleading, experts say, and is a trope that has circulated for years against the current Democratic Party. While the KKK, founded in the late 1860s, did count many Democrats among its members, historians note that neither major party today much resembles its historical roots, due in part to Civil Rights-era political realignments.
“At the core of the effort to discredit the current Democratic Party is the refusal to accept the realignment of the party structure in the mid-20th century,” Princeton University history professor Tera Hunter told USA Today.
By the 1920s, KKK membership was roughly evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans, according to The Washington Post. During the second wave of the KKK beginning in 1915, members included Democrats, Republicans and those affiliated with neither party.
The political shift accelerated in the 1960s. President Lyndon Johnson, a Democrat, signed the Civil Rights Act into law in 1964, and many voters who opposed the legislation subsequently left the Democratic Party for the Republican Party. The act passed the Senate with the support of 44 Democrats and 27 Republicans, after a filibuster. Black voters’ support for the Democratic Party has remained stable in the decades since.
Despite his criticism of Democrats, Mr. Cannon stopped short of fully embracing the Republican Party. Paraphrasing W.E.B. Du Bois, he said he does not “subscribe” to either major party, describing both as “one evil party with two different names.”
He nonetheless offered a colorful endorsement of Mr. Trump and several of his policies.
“He’s doing what he said he was going to do,” Mr. Cannon said. “We got the Gulf of America now” — a reference to the president’s executive order renaming the Gulf of Mexico. He also praised Mr. Trump’s Gold Card program, an immigrant investor initiative offering wealthy foreigners an expensive fast-track to permanent U.S. residency. “He’s like the club, charging a $5 million bottle service fee to get into the country,” Mr. Cannon said.
Ms. Rose, who spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention after describing herself as a “former liberal,” said Mr. Trump was the “better option for us.” Mr. Cannon acknowledged the two share political common ground, telling her, “Both you and I have some conservative views. You’re just a little bit more outspoken about it than I am.”
This article was constructed with the assistance of artificial intelligence and published by a member of The Washington Times’ AI News Desk team. The contents of this report are based solely on The Washington Times’ original reporting, wire services, and/or other sources cited within the report. For more information, please read our AI policy or contact Steve Fink, Director of Artificial Intelligence, at sfink@washingtontimes.com
The Washington Times AI Ethics Newsroom Committee can be reached at aispotlight@washingtontimes.com.
