The View’s Sunny Hostin Reveals Why She ‘Didn’t Disclose’ Daughter Attending Cornell Amid Controversy

The View‘s Sunny Hostin has revealed she has a personal connection to Cornell University after facing backlash for weighing in on the widely-publicized case involving a lawsuit filed by an unidentified Jane Doe and seven men dubbed the ‘Cornell 7’.

During the Monday, October 5, episode of The View‘s Behind the Table podcast, Hostin, 57, addressed a detail she hadn’t shared when discussing the case on air last week.

“Paloma goes to Cornell,” Hostin explained of her daughter, 20. “She doesn’t like me to talk about her on air. I have a lot of instructions when I do talk about her, so when I got [Jane Doe’s] statement, because ABC News had it pretty early, I called her immediately and I wanted to know how she’s feeling, what the tenor of the campus was.”

“She’s an RA and so I knew that perhaps victims of sexual assault would be coming to her in confidence and speaking to her, and I wanted to make sure she had the tools,” she added on the podcast. “Cornell did prepare her to have those kinds of conversations.”

While she “didn’t disclose [Paloma’s enrollment] on air, people found out about it,” Hostin said. She also noted, “Cornell has been very active in speaking to parents, they’ve been sending us emails,” but said “they need to review their practices.”

As Globe previously reported, Hostin drew backlash during the Tuesday, September 29, broadcast of The View while discussing the lawsuit filed by Jane Doe, a former Cornell student, who accused seven members of the Chi Phi fraternity of sexually assaulting her.

“It’s important to understand why the DA did not bring a case [in 2024],” Hostin said at the time. “If you voluntarily ingest drugs, you voluntarily take alcohol, you can agree to have threesomes, which in her statement, she agreed to have two separate threesomes.”

The men named in the suit have not been criminally charged, and prosecutors have reopened the investigation.

On the Behind the Table podcast, Hostin stood by her stance. “I understand the outrage, because it’s outrageous and it’s heinous. The alleged conduct is so heinous. But, ultimately, I’m still at the place that I was when we first discussed it,” she said. “The law is the problem, and I hope that people take these feelings that they’re having, this outrage, which they should be outraged that this is the law, and vote — at least in New York — to change it.”

If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, confidential support is available 24/7 through the RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673), by texting HOPE to 64673, or through online chat at RAINN.org/hotline.