Nick Cannon hoping to 'live up' to Jamie Foxx's 'legacy' as 'Beat Shazam' sub host
Nick Cannon, left, is substituting for Jamie Foxx as host on "Beat Shazam."
Credit: Composite: Gabriel Olsen / Getty Images; Joe Maher / Getty Images
Entertainer Nick Cannon, previously announced to fill in for Jamie Foxx as host of “Beat Shazam,” gave a shoutout to the recuperating star on the season 6 premiere of the Fox network’s song-identifying game show Tuesday night.
After announcer DJ Irie asked the studio audience to “please welcome our very special guest host, Nick Cannon!,” the subbing Cannon bounded out, exchanged quick pleasantries with guest DJ Kelly Osbourne and then addressed the crowd.
“Now, I know what you all are thinking: That ain't Jamie Foxx,” Cannon, 42, joked. “And you are absolutely right. I'm actually Nick Cannon, and I am honored that Jamie asked me to fill in for him, so make no mistake: This is Jamie Foxx's house. He has hosted this show for five seasons and given away almost $12 million. It's amazing."
Cannon, an actor, radio-show host, producer and hip-hop artist who also hosts the Fox game show “The Masked Singer” and the MTV battle-rap comedy competition “Wild 'N Out,” went on to assure, “Imma do my best to live up to Jamie’s ‘Beat Shazam’ legacy.” He also introduced media personality Osbourne, stepping in as guest DJ in place of Foxx’s daughter, Corinne Foxx. “Corinne is spending some daddy-daughter time with Jamie,” Cannon explained.
Academy Award winner Jamie Foxx, 55, was hospitalized April 11 for what Corinne Fox, 29, announced in a since-deleted Instagram post was "a medical complication.” He was in Atlanta shooting the Netflix movie “Back in Action.” “Luckily,” she continued, "due to quick action and great care, he is already on his way to recovery."
Following conflicting, anonymously sourced reports early this month about the actor’s health, she wrote May 12 on Instagram Stories, where posts cycle out after 24 hours, “My Dad has been out of the hospital for weeks recuperating. In fact, he was playing pickleball yesterday! Thanks for everyone’s prayers and support!”
Jamie Foxx’s longtime friend, former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson, said on the “PDB Podcast” last week that, “He’s not feeling well … They said [it was] a stroke.” according to a transcribed quote in Us Weekly. Tyson added, “I have no idea what happened to him.”
The Fox network remains confident in the star's recuperation, announcing on May 15 that Foxx will host and serve as an executive producer of the music-guessing game show “We Are Family,” with Corinne Foxx as co-host.
