Nick Cannon Calls TLC’s Chilli ”Amazing” Amid Dating Rumors

Nick Cannon certainly seems like he’s diggin’ on TLC singer Chilli, days after the two sparked dating rumors. Just don’t use the “R word”…yet.

The New York Daily News reported this week that the 35-year-old America’s Got Talent host, who is in the midst of divorce proceedings with Mariah Carey, and Chilli, whose real name is Rozonda Thomas, were spotted kissing at WDKX’s Summerfest Concert in Rochester, New York over the weekend. A source recently told E! News the two started “hanging out romantically” earlier this summer.

Cannon was all smiles when asked about Chilli in an exclusive interview with E! News’ Carissa Culiner at the premiere of the documentary Gleason in Los Angeles Thursday.

“She’s amazing,” Cannon said about the singer. “She’s an outstanding person but you gotta ask her what’s going on.”

“I’m new to this! How does this whole thing work?” he said, joking, “Right now I’m damaged goods, I need to be repaired.”

When Culiner cited a “relationship” between him and Chilli, Cannon said, “Ooh, you used the ‘R word already?”

“That is definitely my friend, someone I care dearly for,” he said. “I’d be so lucky to be able to…be called dating someone like that.”

Chilli, 45, has not commented publicly about Cannon, who filed for divorce from Carey in December 2014 after six years of marriage. The two share 6-year-old twins Moroccan and Monroe. Since their split, Carey has moved on with Australian billionaire James Packer. The two got engaged several months ago.

A source told E! News in January Cannon is “happy for them” and that the twins “like Packer,” who “treats them well.” Carey, her beau and the kids recently vacationed together on his luxury yacht in Italy.