During the Tuesday episode of The View’s podcast, Behind the Table, staunchly racist ABC host Sunny Hostin whined about being called “a race baiter.” The kicker was the fact that she was complaining about being called a race baiter while at the same time bashing white people for supposedly having it so easy in life. She even lashed out against Elon Musk for being a white child in South Africa during apartheid.
The race baiting began early in the episode as Hostin’s martyr complex took over again and she congratulated herself for being one of “the 92 percent of black women that voted not necessarily in our self-interest but voted for the collective” by supporting Vice President Kamala Harris for president.
According to her, President Trump’s voters were “that voting constituency [that’s] dragging us all down.”
When host Brian Teta (the executive producer for The View) asked about the private sector moving away from DEI, Hostin initially argued that “there's this myth of a lack of meritocracy” in America.
But a few minutes later, Hostin did a complete 180-degree flip and asserted that “there's a myth of meritocracy in this country.” And according to her warped view of reality, “it's never been a meritocracy” but rather “an ethnocracy, actually.”
That’s when she started lashing out at white people for supposedly having it so easy and Musk’s childhood:
It's been about white mediocre men that are given opportunities. It's about legacy admissions. It's – You don't, you know, have to be excellent. You have to be average if you're white; if you are black, you must – your average must be excellent in order to compete.
I don't, I mean, I don't want to rely on the benevolence of a Donald Trump who the Justice Department found who wouldn't let black people live in his buildings. I don't want to rely upon the benevolence of an Elon Musk who grew up in in apartheid South Africa. I don't want to rely on that.
That flip-flop on meritocracy came after Hostin praised the Department of Justice Honors Program, which she utilized, as “purely merit[-based].”
Treating the stars in the military ranks of generals like they're part of a Yelp review, Hostin insisted that the only reason Trump ditched former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Air Force General C.Q. Brown (a four-star general) was "because he's a black man." "[B]ut they're replacing him with a three-star general white man," she whined.
After bashing white people and while going on about her “lived experience,” Hostin un-ironically decried critics for calling her out as a “race baiter.”
“Certainly we get punished for talking about our lived experience, you know, I'm called a race baiter and all of this stuff. This is my lived experience and it's the lived experience of thousands and thousands and thousands of our viewers,” she bemoaned.
Further on DEI, she lamented how “the Republican Party and the conservatives have done a great job of bastardizing that term” and how “it needs to be retaken and explained.”
She also had this moment of Zen: “When I hear someone say, ‘I'm against diversity, equity, and inclusion,’ it gives me great pause because it makes me feel that you don't want diversity, equity, and inclusion.”
The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:
ABC’s Behind the Table (The View’s podcast)
February 25, 2025(…)
SUNNY HOSTIN: Look, I think there are some of us, like the 92 percent of black women that voted not necessarily in our self-interest but voted for the collective, that are tired, that are feeling these attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion, that are feeling these attacks on our communities and are looking and saying look at what you voted for. You know, because that voting constituency is dragging us all down.
(…)
BRIAN TETA (executive producer for The View): We talked about Jane Fonda on the show today defending the word “woke,” it's something you've been doing on the show for a very long time. And we've been talking about DEI initiatives a lot on our show. What is the biggest misconception in your mind about DEI? Because I have to be honest, I'm not surprised at the actions that were taken. I'm surprised that it's trickled into the private sector so quickly,
HOSTIN: You know, my understanding of diversity, equity, and inclusion is: it's not that, you know, there's this myth of a lack of meritocracy that people that are diverse, that are getting these opportunities are less qualified than those people that should be in those positions. And, and let's be clear they're talking about minorities. Minorities shouldn't be in these positions and they're only getting these positions are only getting into elite colleges because of their race.
But what's interesting to me about it is they're getting rid of let's say the Joint Chiefs of Staff – the head of – Brown. He's a 4 star general, but they're replacing him with a 3 star general white man. Why is he more qualified than the 4 star general? I mean, that's, that's the easiest thing someone that has 4 stars is more qualified than someone that has 3 stars. And they are, I think, to be clear, getting rid of him because he's a black man.
Now, the real truth about diversity, equity, and inclusion is it's not about hiring people that are less competent, it's about giving the most competent people an opportunity at it. For example, I was part of the Department of Justice Honors Program that's how I got my first job with the Department of Justice Antitrust Division. It is a fully merit based program. And I would not have had that opportunity, but for the fact that they were looking at other pools of people.
In particular, they were looking for people that were bilingual and I happened to be bilingual. That was very helpful because I acted as a translator sometimes for the Antitrust Division.
That being said, they just got rid of the Honors Program because they called it a diversity initiative program. You can't even apply to the program unless you've met a certain GPA standard. That's purely merit.
And so, I think what this is about is really the myth of meritocracy.
TETA: Which is something you've talked about for years.
HOSTIN: Yeah, there's a myth of meritocracy in this country and it's never been a meritocracy. It's been an ethnocracy, actually. It's been about white mediocre men that are given opportunities. It's about legacy admissions. It's – You don't, you know, have to be excellent. You have to be average if you're white; if you are black, you must – your average must be excellent in order to compete.
I don't, I mean, I don't want to rely on the benevolence of a Donald Trump who the Justice Department found who wouldn't let black people live in his buildings. I don't want to rely upon the benevolence of an Elon Musk who grew up in in apartheid South Africa. I don't want to rely on that.
I want the opportunity, simply the opportunity to compete, just the opportunity to compete. And that's what diversity, equity, and inclusion programs are.
And by the way, studies show that those companies that embrace diversity, equity inclusion do better. They make more money, people are happier there, they're reflective of the country. And so, anyone that isn't, in my opinion, supportive of diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, I think they either don't like the facts or they don't care about other people.
TETA: The View as a platform was built on diversity.
HOSTIN: Of opinion.
TETA: Well, yeah, I would say yes, but opinion, of age –
HOSTIN: Of age.
TETA: Of backgrounds. And I think that's something that –
HOSTIN: Its bringing real value.
TETA: It’s the strength of the show. It is.
HOSITN: Of course it is, of course it is. And, you know, certainly we get punished for talking about our lived experience, you know, I'm called a race baiter and all of this stuff. This is my lived experience and it's the lived experience of thousands and thousands and thousands of our viewers.
TETA: Yeah.
HOSITN: And so again, you know, when I hear someone say, ‘I'm against diversity, equity, and inclusion,’ it gives me great pause because it makes me feel that you don't want diversity, equity, and inclusion.
And the Republican Party and the conservatives have done a great job of bastardizing that term, and I think it needs to be retaken and explained.
(…)
