“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin’s contention that being a Black Republican was an “oxymoron” and she didn’t “understand” Black or Latino Republicans drew outrage from party members on Friday, with accusations of racism and calls for an apology.
Hostin, after guest host Lindsey Granger said she was a Republican on Friday, interrupted her on the ABC daytime gabfest, saying, “I feel like that’s an oxymoron, a Black Republican.” The panel became visibly uncomfortable as she went on to say, “I don’t understand either of you,” referring to her and co-host Ana Navarro, who remains a Republican despite her staunch support for Democrats. Hostin then said, “I don’t understand Black Republicans, and I don’t understand Latino Republicans.”
The remarks drew outrage online from the right, and lawmakers and politicians who spoke with Fox News Digital uniformly condemned her comments.
Texas Republican congressional candidate Mayra Flores said Hostin’s remarks were racist and called on her to apologize immediately.
“That’s what you call racism,” she said. “That’s racism right there, when someone tells you because of the color of your skin, because of where you’re from, you have to think a certain way.”
“She owes us a huge apology,” she added. “I’ve been told from people from the left I should go back to Mexico. I’ve been called all kinds of names because I’m running as a Republican. [The media] are completely silent about it because it doesn’t fit their agenda. She owes an apology to all of us. She’s constantly spreading misinformation, constantly disrespecting our values. Honestly, shame on her and shame on ‘The View.’”
Flores, who was born in Mexico and is pursuing a House seat in Texas’ 34th District, said she was raised with conservative values and wouldn’t abandon them, whereas Hostin “obviously doesn’t understand our culture.” Hostin, who is Afro-Latina, openly supports Democrats and fawned over Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in the show’s interview with her on Friday.
“Honestly, I feel it’s a disrespect for her to talk that way because she’s obviously sold her values,” Flores said. “[Democrats] continue to make promises to us. We’ve been taken for granted here in south Texas … They want to pretend like we don’t exist …. God, family and hard work, that’s who we are in the Hispanic community.”
Dr. Ben Carson, who ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and served as President Trump’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, likened Hostin’s logic to a “relic of Jim Crow.”
“Freedom is the liberty to pursue happiness on one’s own free will,” Carson told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The impudent behavior to tell others how they should think, feel, and live is a relic of Jim Crow and disgusting. Conservative ideals like faith, liberty, community, and life transcend race, sex, and religion. More Americans are coming to that realization and that is why the left is so scared.”
Republican National Committee spokesperson and director of Black media affairs Paris Dennard also condemned Hostin’s comments.
“The millions of free thinking, independent minded Black and Latino Americans who are in the Republican Party should continue to ignore the personal attacks and attempts to intimidate them by liberals like Sunny Hostin,” he told Fox News Digital in a statement. “The view of the RNC is that all minority Republicans are valued, appreciated, and respected and we look forward to welcoming even more into the GOP and seeing the record number of Black and Latino Republican candidates for Congress win in November.”
Jennifer-Ruth Green, an Indiana congressional candidate, tweeted in response to the clip, “Hi, Sunny, I’m Black and a proud Republican. I was raised to love America and value the principles of faith, family, personal responsibility, and service to country. I just wanted to introduce myself.”
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