The View co-host Sunny Hostin is facing backlash after questioning how an alleged sexual assault case involving seven Cornell University fraternity members has been reported.
The case involves a former Cornell student who alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted by seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity at the fraternity house in October 2024, according to The New York Times.
The woman, identified as Jane Doe in a civil lawsuit, alleges she was pressured to consume alcohol and drugs before being sexually assaulted.
The Tompkins County District Attorney's Office did not bring criminal charges after investigating the woman's 2024 report. The office has since reopened the investigation following her lawsuit and plans to present the case to a grand jury, according to The New York Times. The seven men named in the lawsuit have not been criminally charged.
During Tuesday's (September 29) episode of The View, Hostin, a former federal prosecutor who prosecuted sex crimes, said she had reviewed the woman's 2024 statement and wanted viewers to understand why prosecutors did not initially bring charges.
Hostin pointed to the woman's reported alcohol and drug use, saying she “voluntarily drank a lot” and “voluntarily snorted ketamine off of one of the boys' body parts.”
“Under New York law, voluntary intoxication or drug use that merely impairs judgment does not legally constitute an inability to consent to sexual activity,” Hostin said.
Hostin characterized portions of the woman's 2024 statement as describing consensual sexual activity, including what Hostin described as two consensual threesomes.
However, the woman also said in her 2024 statement that she became “extremely uncomfortable,” described part of the encounter as feeling coercive and said she was the most intoxicated she had ever been, according to reporting on the statement.
Hostin then criticized the way the seven men have been portrayed online.
“The pictures of these young men who have not been charged, not been adjudicated, are being plastered all over the internet,” she said. “I think people are reporting this story inaccurately. I think they're reporting it unfairly.”
Hostin added that, based on the woman's 2024 statement, “there is no way” a prosecutor would have brought a case at the time.
“I believe women,” Hostin said, while arguing that the woman's 2024 statement and her 2026 allegations differ.
The comments drew criticism from people who accused Hostin of victim-blaming and focusing too heavily on the woman's intoxication rather than the allegations against the men. Others defended Hostin's discussion of the legal standard and her experience as a former prosecutor.
Hostin's comments have added another layer to the growing public discussion surrounding the Cornell case, with several Black public figures also speaking out about the allegations and the response to them.
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