On Tuesday’s edition of “The View,” the panelists surveyed the potential GOP candidates for the presidency. Needless to say, none were viewed terribly favorably — but Sunny Hostin had a curious reason for disliking Nikki Haley.
Hostin said that Haley, a former South Carolina governor and Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, hid her Indian heritage by adopting a fake name and hiding her ethnicity.
Slight problem: “Nikki” is indeed her real given name, and “Sunny” isn’t Sunny Hostin’s real given name. But details, details.
The kerfuffle began as co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin said Haley had been an “incredibly effective governor of South Carolina.”
“What is her real name again?” Hostin asked.
She was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa, according to USA Today, and has gone by Nikki since birth; the name means “little one” and is a common name in Punjab, the area of India her parents emigrated to the United States from. Haley is her married name.
However, Hostin said Haley was a “chameleon” because of the ambiguous nature of her name.
“I think if she leaned into being someone of color, this would be different,” Hostin said.
“There’s some of us that can be chameleons and decide not to embrace our ethnicity, so that we can pass, so that we don’t have to worry.”
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Co-host Sara Haines pointed out another problem in Hostin’s argument: “Sunny, you go by a different name!”
Indeed she does; her birth name is Asunción Cummings Hostin.
Hostin’s counter-argument? She changed the name “because most Americans can’t pronounce ‘Asunción’ because of the under-education in our country.”
You know, like the under-educated people who don’t know Nikki Haley’s name really is Nikki.
Finally promoting GOP women, Farah Griffin notes the possibility of Nikki Haley running in 2024 and how effective she was as governor.
But villainous race-baiter Sunny interrupts to chide: “What is her real name again?” And essentially calls Haley a race traitor. pic.twitter.com/QOCR3ty5Na— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 20, 2022
“Thanks for your concern @Sunny. It’s racist of you to judge my name,” Haley responded on Twitter.
“Nikki is an Indian name and is on my birth certificate—and I’m proud of that. What’s sad is the left’s hypocrisy towards conservative minorities.
“By the way, last I checked Sunny isn’t your birth name…” she added.
Thanks for your concern @Sunny. It’s racist of you to judge my name.
Nikki is an Indian name and is on my birth certificate—and I’m proud of that.
What’s sad is the left’s hypocrisy towards conservative minorities.
By the way, last I checked Sunny isn’t your birth name… pic.twitter.com/NI3KZXjD6F
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) September 20, 2022
In case you’ve forgotten, this is hardly the only racial controversy “The View” has spawned in recent years — and shockingly, almost none of them have come from the token conservative co-hosts.
In February, co-host Whoopi Goldberg was suspended when she said, “The Holocaust isn’t about race. … It’s not about race. It’s about man’s inhumanity to man,” according to The Washington Post.
“These are two white groups of people. … The minute you turn it into race, it goes down this alley.”
In 2019, co-host Joy Behar got into trouble after a photo of her in costume as a “beautiful African woman” — translation: in blackface — resurfaced.
This June, she also faced criticism for comments on gun control, which came across as racially tinged:
Joy Behar: “Once Black people get guns in this country, the gun laws will change. Trust me.” pic.twitter.com/gaweZf483X
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) June 8, 2022
“Here’s the thing: Once black people get guns in this country the gun laws will change, trust me,” she said.
But Nikki Haley is the racist one since she’s trying to pass as white … by using her real Indian name. Only in the land of “The View” could that logic fly.
