Nick Cannon Shocks NBC, Quits America's Got Talent

After lashing out at NBC execs in an exceedingly long Facebook rant on Feb. 13, 2017, Nick Cannon's career at America's Got Talent is over.

Some background: the trouble began brewing after Cannon, 37, joked that NBC was taking his "black card" away during a Showtime standup special, on Feb. 10, 2017. Network honchos were unhappy with the remark, TMZ reported, and considered firing Cannon for badmouthing the brand that writes his checks, which is apparently stipulated in his contract. He can't discuss NBC or America's Got Talent without the network's approval. However, NBC suits reportedly got over it and wanted to keep Cannon around because they genuinely like the guy.

When Cannon got word that he'd been close to getting fired, he supposedly decided to quit instead. "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. This has weighed heavy [sic] on my spirit," he wrote on Facebook. "...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 [too] loud about it."

The post continued for hundreds of words, even quoting Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with this idea: "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about the things that matter.'"

Sources told Page Six the network was shocked by Cannon's social media diatribe because it wanted to keep him on board.

TMZ caught up with Cannon on Feb. 14, 2017. The comic said he's firmly against returning to the talent competition series, which he had hosted since 2009. Sources told the tab Cannon is not worried about a lawsuit, either, and that NBC will let him go if he chooses to exit before his contract is up.