Sunny Hostin Applauds Oscars Stars Using Their Voice For The Voiceless

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All right, it is Monday, March 16th.

It's the day after the Oscars.

It's a big day here at the View.

It is.

And I'm here with the lovely set of pasta.

Hi, Brian.

Well, let me address my voice.

Oh, let's talk about this.

Because people are noticing.

People are noticing.

I have some vocal cord nodules, apparently, on my voice.

This started in December when I went away.

And it was in a very arid place, very dry.

And I didn't drink enough water.

And apparently this is something that happens to singers,

people that talk for a living, which is what I do.

I've always done it, actually, even as an attorney.

So I've seen one doctor who thought it was either surgery,

a month or less of vocal rest, or maybe injections.

So I don't like those answers.

No.

Chat GPT, where I have my MD,

gave me similar advice.

OK.

But one of the highlights is that when I do rest my voice,

it gets better.

That's a good sign.

And so that is a good sign.

I was at the new edition concert with Summer Shake,

one of our producers.

And we were singing.

I was singing Badly Off Key, which is what I do.

And that is why my voice today is even worse.

So this was not a week in the vocal rest for you?

No.

I also went to the opening of Martha Stewart's restaurant.

The Bedford, it, a Foxwoods casino.

Yes.

And so I was chatting up a lot on Friday and Saturday.

All right.

So it happened.

And then screaming while watching Michael B. Jordan win.

Yeah.

On Sunday.

So this is why it's worse today.

OK.

So as the doctor said, it hurts when I do this.

Then don't do that.

What about maybe this weekend?

You don't talk.

I think I was speaking engagement this week.

That's not good.

All right.

Well, at some point, we'll have a vacation.

And hopefully you'll be able to.

Yes.

I'm going to, I'm going to,

Manny is setting me up with a second opinion.

Mm-hmm.

And so hopefully, um, um,

Jatchy PTMD is wrong.

Yeah.

And the first doctor is wrong.

And maybe there's like,

like a, like a throat coat thing.

Yeah.

Especially T or something.

There's a T that I can use and get rid of it.

Oh, I'm sorry.

It's frustrating.

You know, and I remember,

I had laryngitis for the first time in my life at the beginning

of this year and last year.

Really?

And it was unbelievable.

It hurts to speak.

Yeah.

It hurts to talk.

It's really something else.

All right.

Well, let's go back to this concert,

because new edition,

they were our Christmas performance this year.

I got to tell you they,

they've gotten buffed.

Yeah.

They're good looking, man.

I mean, boys to men has really,

uh, they've leveled up.

Oh, wow.

And Tony Braxton.

She's, I mean, she came out with wings.

New edition had all kinds of outfits.

This is a good show.

This is a good show.

It's an incredible, incredible show.

I saw boys to men once with TLC and Montel Jordan.

Oh.

That was amazing.

Amazing.

And I was an intern at another show.

And I used my intern abilities to get backstage.

And chili from TLC.

Kiss me on the cheek.

She's gorgeous.

She's still gorgeous.

That was 20 years ago.

Yeah.

Yeah.

All right.

So this is nostalgic for you, though,

because I have here Bobby Brown was your first concert.

That was my first concert.

That's amazing.

I went with my college,

one of my roommates, Kelly Kinsey from Harlem.

And we had a jar in our apartment.

We had an off campus apartment.

It was Bobby Brown concert fund.

And we were so broke.

Yeah.

And so we put whatever money,

you know, I had a lot of odd jobs in college.

She had the same.

We put ourselves out there to try to just get enough money.

We got enough money to get the cheap seats.

And we were sort of on a balcony.

And he was singing Roni.

Oh.

To the bout of Roni.

And then, you know, there's a part where he asked

if there were any tender Ronis in the house.

And I yelled,

I'm your tender Roni, Bobby.

So loud that he pointed to me

in the crowd.

And I was able to go downstairs

and get close to the stage.

That's amazing.

Yes.

Also, why you can't speak now.

But that's okay.

And Summer can attest to the fact

that I also sang tender Roni

and screamed,

I'm your tender Roni on Saturday.

Wow.

All right.

I wasn't doubting.

But there we are.

Now, does it make you like want to pinch yourself now

when you're standing in the room with someone like him

that you loved as a kid?

It's weird.

It was like a full circle moment.

Sean, who has a wonderful podcast

from Boys to Men,

reached out to me and wants me to be on his podcast.

So we're talking about coming on the podcast.

He knows I love music.

And I love.

I like the boys coming on the show.

So get him here.

That would be great.

Every fun.

Yeah.

Now we're text buddies.

Let's do it.

And he salt me in the audience.

He pointed at me.

And sort of had this quizzical look on his face.

Like, what is Sonny Austin doing like in the pit?

We were like in the pit.

It was like, we were in a suite.

We were in the pit.

That should be.

Experience it.

Correct.

Exactly.

Experiencing it.

And he actually texted me.

And he was like, was that you?

And I had to disguise a little bit on

so that I could just kind of be in the pit and enjoy it.

So I had a dark hat on.

But I wore sort of like a leopard coat,

which was probably like not a disguise.

Not a disguise.

I would expect to see you in a leopard coat.

Yeah.

Correct.

And so of some were kind of test that some people were like,

is that Sonny?

I am a big boy in the pit.

But he noticed me.

And it was really, it's just weird.

It's just a weird life.

I love it.

It's kind of full circle.

Absolutely.

It was cool.

I go back a long time with Boyz Command.

He's co-sfamily.

They can sing.

Yeah.

Absolutely.

And then they brought the fourth one.

No.

The guy who sang bass.

Oh, yeah.

They brought him up.

He has multiple, multiple sclerosis.

Yeah.

So he had to quit the band because of back pain,

back spasm, but they brought him back.

Oh, that's amazing.

And for, I'll make love to you.

Oh.

That was good.

That's amazing.

You gotta go.

All right, I gotta go.

I'm with you.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's go back to the Oscars for a minute.

Okay.

That's where we started the show today.

Were there any movies or actors that you were rooting for last night?

I know you were predicting a sinner's sweep.

It did not happen.

But I tell you, I think sinners was like four out of 16 or something like that.

I was wildly disappointed.

For some big ones, but yeah.

Big ones, but yeah.

Big ones, but I was wildly disappointed.

I thought that Ryan Kugler should have won Best Director.

He's the best director of my lifetime.

And I've had other people say the same thing in the movie business.

He was so intentional about that film.

That film was about black culture and excellence and Jim, the Jim Crow South.

And the, you know, it was horror film, but it was also about the Native Americans

and Chinese immigrants.

It just had so many layers.

You know, we had Ken Burns, the famous documentarian on our show today.

And I think in many respects, Ryan Kugler is documenting history.

And I just, I felt that one battle after another just couldn't compete.

It was sort of a movie, in my view, about the sexual exploitation of a black woman

and two white men fighting over her.

And she filled with the stereotype of a black mother leaving her child,

which if you look at the stats, black mothers don't do that.

Is that too heavy?

No, I think it's okay.

I think it's an uneven playing field for what they call genre movies sometimes.

And we were talking about this as the commercial break.

I'm sorry.

I don't agree because K-pop demon hunter won for Best Song,

which was a song that I don't know.

Was that deserving over?

I lied to you.

It was a big song.

It was a big song.

It was a big song.

It was a big song.

I'm sorry.

I don't buy the genre thing.

I don't buy any of that.

I like the bulltake.

Listen, this is what the view is about.

You're making strong takes.

I don't buy that.

You'll hear from people about certainly.

That's fine.

I don't buy that.

It's a horror genre.

I just think they very rarely reward that.

When they should in many times.

They rewarded K-pop demon animated and in a song.

I'm talking about the song animation.

I agreed with that.

But for song, no.

It seems like genre rules apply sometimes,

but they don't seem to apply other times.

I'll take that.

Let's see.

What else?

I was disappointed, but thrilled for cinematography,

for sinners, thrills, for best score, for sinners,

thrills for Michael B. Jordan and Thrilled for

original screenplay, because Ryan did that.

Some people will say that's a consolation prize,

because the real power is getting that director Oscar.

But he's going to get it.

He's going to win 100%.

Correct.

It's like watching Spielberg early on.

I think so.

He's going to get there.

It wasn't Marty Scorsese, someone that didn't get an Oscar for a bit.

It took him a long time.

Yeah.

Yeah. And Spielberg too.

Spielberg didn't win till Schindler's list.

Yeah.

So I think he'll get there.

Yeah.

So I mean, yeah.

It was a really interesting show, I thought.

It was wonderful.

And there was a lot of politics as there often is.

Yeah.

But people feel still to this day in 2026 conflicted about

using those moments for politics.

I'm not conflicted at all about that.

Yeah.

I think that, I mean, you've always championed people speaking out

using their platforms in this way.

You mentioned specifically the winner of Best International Film

Sentimental Value.

Why was that?

Well, because he quoted James Baldwin, my favorite author,

and he talks about the effects of politics and war on children,

the innocence.

And it seems to me like so many people proclaim to have family values

and proclaim to want to protect the elderly and children,

yet during times of war and other times when we should be

sticking up for children and protecting children,

it depends on what children are harmed when people choose

to choose their voices.

You know, I spent my career protecting children.

I was a child sex crimes prosecutor.

And I know people say, oh, she says that all the time.

Well, but that's because that's very important to me.

And it seems to me that the innocence are the ones that are

affected the most by by war.

And so we've got this unconstitutional illegal war in Iran

that we're conducting with Israel.

And 175 people, mainly young girls, were killed by this government.

And we haven't even admitted it or apologized.

And then also, you know, you have so many

gods and young innocent children that were killed in that war,

which continues to this day.

We've stopped talking about it.

And so when you have a Javier Bardam who gets up there and says,

no more wars, or has a pen, this has no more wars,

and says free Palestine, I think to who much is given,

much is required.

And you use your voice when you have a platform as big as the Oscars

or the view or anything else.

And to be clear, I know that there are people

that are unwilling to do that because they don't want to get political

and they don't want to use their voice because there are consequences.

I've suffered consequences.

I've lost jobs because of my views.

But I will stand tentos down if I am giving voice to the voice

and I think that if you have a platform, you have a responsibility.

You differentiated all from people that have strong feelings

and don't share them and people that aren't particularly engaged

and don't have strong feelings, and that's why they're not political.

Sure.

But I think it's quite a privilege in today's date to not have an opinion

and not be political in the times that we are living in.

That's quite the privilege to say, I'm not choosing sides.

I'm not picking a team.

I think that that's a very simplistic way of looking at the world

and I think it's a very privileged way of looking at the world.

I can't argue with you.

I don't think I have a choice but to pick a side.

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All right, well, let's go from the very serious to the less so and the more sublime.

Let's talk about fashion.

You enjoy it so much.

Oh, thank you, Brian.

We didn't get a chance to do it on the show today.

We always come to you for our posts.

Oh, you do.

I did.

All right.

Who were the best dressed for you this year?

I chose the men this year.

That's new for you.

And I never do.

No.

I never choose the men.

I thought the women were wearing black.

They were wearing some shiny stuff.

They weren't inspiring.

They were not interesting.

I thought Jacob Ellority looked fantastic.

He had sort of this all black wide lapel tuxedo.

It was fantastic.

I thought Pedro Pascal was fantastic at a white shirt on.

No jacket, black slacks, and this like poofy brooch.

Flowery, yes.

It was sort of the year of the brooch for men.

And I really, really enjoyed it.

I'm going to give it to Timothy Chalamet, even though I know he's got a lot of flag.

He too had a little brooch, but he was dressed in all white.

I thought he looked terrific.

He could have lost the glasses, the dark glasses on the red carpet.

But gorgeous Delroy Lindo.

Gorgeous.

He had an Ascot on, open collar, fantastic.

Adrian Brody almost won the night for me because of his brooch.

Check it out.

Absolutely.

Oh, I mean, Brian.

Look at that.

It was stunning.

And I also like Shabuzie.

He also had something that was interesting.

It wasn't a brooch.

I'm sorry, he too had a brooch, but then he also had like a chain.

And then of course, it was Michael B. Jordan.

He just killed it.

Yeah.

He just looked cool.

He looked effortless.

There's this great.

It's my favorite thing to see the videos of him in and out afterwards.

Yeah.

I mean, even in a, you know, green fat food place with his Oscar, he just looks so cool.

Yeah.

Cool, humble, stylish, fashionable.

So he's someone who comes on the show often.

It does.

It could just not be an aspect of him.

He always sends us best flowers.

Well, I've never gotten flowers, but he's just a hell of a nice guy.

Happy chat.

He is.

You know, he exchanged phone numbers with my son over their love of anime.

And once in a while, we'll text him some anime that he should watch.

Oh, that's amazing.

It's amazing.

He's like that guy.

All right.

We're going to switch gears now and do a hot topic.

Okay.

All right.

There was a story that kind of has your name on it, I think.

Someone wrote an article about going to great lengths to plant a surprise trip for her husband.

Okay.

And it turns out that in the digital age, keeping something a secret is a full-time job.

Oh.

Especially when you're trying to hide it from your husband.

Correct.

What are some of the things that you've had to hide from Mani?

I hide purchases.

Yes.

Has technology ever ratted you out?

Yes.

Explain.

Yeah.

Mani, he's a techie.

Right?

He's a tech guy.

So he has booby trap, the house, unbeknownst to me.

Respect.

A lot of cameras.

Yeah.

A lot of front door cameras.

I thought it was just the ring camera.

So I was bringing things through the garage.

Oh, no.

You got to have a garage camera.

But there's a garage camera unbeknownst to me.

Mm-hmm.

And there's also a back door camera.

All the entrances have to be a camera.

From all of them, he sort of conspired with the ADT guy.

Mm-hmm.

And I've got cameras everywhere.

I'm sure it was for safety and not to spy on you.

You're purchasing.

I'm not sure.

Because he asked me recently, why do I get so many packages?

Yes.

And I responded, what packages?

Yeah.

And...

In my house, if there are no packages, the UPS driver knocks on the door

to make sure everything's okay.

They're concerned about us.

Well, see, this is my thing.

I like the real real.

It's sort of a consignment sort of shop.

Yeah.

I own stock in the real real.

Mm-hmm.

I believe in it.

It's sustainable.

What you're doing is you're upcycling.

You're recycling clothing.

So when I get tired of something, I bring it over to the real real

or they come and they pick it up.

And then they sell it for me.

I get a percentage of the sales.

Oh, it's great.

And then I get a site or store credit.

Mm-hmm.

And I buy someone else's used things.

That makes total sense.

So this is upcycling, this is recycling, this is sustainability.

Most of my packages come from there.

I think that that is fine.

I think it's good for the environment.

I think it's good for me.

My wife's a big fan of the order a lot of things

and return most of them.

I don't return things.

That's the thing.

I don't think she does either.

But that's what she explains to me.

Most of these are getting returned.

No, I don't return things.

I upcycled.

Okay, upcycled.

Yes.

All right, I like it.

You like that?

Do you hide the purchases in the house?

Yes.

How's that going?

Because you've moved.

You used to have a quite polatial place.

Yes.

Yes.

This place isn't small, but it's smaller.

Yes.

So now I...

I mean, the White House ballroom would be smaller than the old place.

So I break down the boxes

and keep them in an area.

Okay.

That has no cameras.

Yes.

Now that I know where the cameras are.

I'm a big fan of the using technology

to...

To spy on things.

Yeah, to spy.

Yeah, to spy.

I like it when I do it.

I don't like it when it's done to me.

I used to skip classes when I was in high school sometimes.

I hope my children aren't listening to this.

Right.

And I know.

It was a long time ago.

I was always on the edge of technology a little bit too.

Yes.

Like I was one of the first people to realize in my family

that you could call remotely to the answering machine

and erase messages at the attendance office.

Oh, yes.

You could do that.

So that was very big for me.

I was always a little bit ahead of my father.

But he did catch me because what he did was he put tape on the door

to see whether I broke the seal and came home during the day.

I've done that.

Yeah, it's a good move.

It's...

I've done the tape thing.

It's a good move.

It's a low-tech.

Yeah.

Gabriel figured that out early.

But I figured...

My father used to that to me.

And so I tried to use that.

Yeah.

It worked briefly.

I just had to keep staying ahead of my kids.

That's all I got to figure out how to do on a tax front.

You may.

We'll do what I can.

All right.

And then you've also hidden livestock.

I know this in the past.

I've hidden chickens in a laundry room.

But then you buy animals.

He had no idea you bought goats or something.

No, the goats had to go back.

The goats had to go back.

He never turned the goats.

He felt the goats cross the line.

Did the real, real except the goats?

Did you off-cycle the goats?

No.

The goats are at a farm saying she married the Nigerian dwarf goats.

It was a bridge too far.

All right.

Yeah.

It's important to settle in that.

I can't believe you remember that.

Of course.

No, that was big.

That was a bridge too far.

I was going to make goat cheese in the milk.

I mean, I had a purpose.

Yeah, of course.

I had a purpose.

Yeah.

But it was a bridge too far.

I understand.

And they were going to also eat the grass.

So our bills were going to go get lower from the...

You wouldn't eat as much landscape.

We wouldn't eat as much landscape.

Yeah.

Correct.

Yeah.

Wasn't that good?

I think it was smart.

Manny.

They'd go for it.

No.

No.

No.

Because they're messy.

And apparently they're a little mean sometimes.

No.

They wouldn't have been mean to me.

No.

I'm sure they would have been fine.

Okay.

I want to get your opinion on this.

Okay.

Chris Jenner was recently interviewed and talked about how her daughter Kylie spent every dime of the money that she made from their reality show to start her beauty business.

It was a big risk that paid off and made her a billionaire.

What's the biggest financial or career risk you've ever taken?

I left my job as a managing director at a risk consulting company

where I led a team in Central America and South America of 200 people

to take a job as a legal correspondent at CNN.

That was a big risk.

Yeah.

And then I got fired.

I think a year later.

Or they went in a different direction.

So when that happened, what was your head?

Were you thinking you made a mistake?

Were you thinking you shouldn't have given that other job up?

Wow.

Yeah.

I mean, listen, I got the job offer from CNN.

And I didn't understand how things work.

There was a change in management at CNN.

The folks that loved me and hired me, they got fired.

And then the new people didn't like me as much.

So they were like, she's getting paid too much money.

But I was still getting paid.

My bonus as a managing director was more than my salary at CNN.

Wow.

So you took the risk because of what would make you happy, you thought?

Yeah, I had a journalism degree.

And I thought, you know, at the time, CNN was sort of the gold standard in my mind.

And I thought, my gosh, to get the opportunity to report for CNN

is going to be really important.

And it break down the law for people.

And I just thought I would take a chance.

And Manny had just started his business practice.

We had just bought that huge house.

We had two kids.

And then I got this opportunity.

And he went through his books.

And he was like, I can hold us down for three years.

Try to make it.

And I eventually made it.

But if you consider this making it, but...

I think most people would.

Yeah.

But that first year was...

It was just...

I just took a chance on it.

I missed practicing law.

I missed being a managing director.

It felt a little unserious at times.

When I was working with Ali Velshi.

And I was like doing like some Wii demonstration.

I've seen that video.

Yeah, it felt a little unserious.

But I think ultimately it was the right move.

How long after you left CNN did you land somewhere

where you felt like you were back on your feet

and this was going to work out?

Well, I went back to the law immediately.

I think that I probably got back on my feet pretty quickly,

actually.

And then ultimately got pulled back into television journalism.

But I got that...

My mom told me education is the great equalizer.

Absolutely.

And my degrees would help me.

And they have.

Yeah.

And now you're a New York Times best selling author.

I am.

I got a lot of buyers in the fire now.

And I'm writing another book.

I know.

And my books are being made into a series with Amazon.

That's pretty great.

It's working out.

You're going to like when you book.

Is it the witches?

It's about the witches.

The yellow cousin.

I'm very excited about that.

Yeah, it's good.

All right. Well, no genre problems when that happens.

All right.

Maybe Ryan Kugler can direct the film.

I like it.

I like that.

And if you're listening.

And I'm sure he'll see someone appointed a particle.

All right.

Thank you for joining me today.

So tomorrow I'll be back with Sarah Haines.

We got a good show tomorrow.

Sarah Michelle Gellers on.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I'm very excited about it.

Yeah.

She's got that campy kind of horror film.

Yeah, but they were supposed to bring back Buffy and now they're not.

Oh, they're not bringing Buffy back?

No.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Yes.

Hulu changed their mind and it's not picking up the pilot.

So we got to ask her about that.

I'm very...

Yeah, I know.

I love Buffy.

Come on.

I'm a big Buffy stand.

All right.

I'll talk more about that tomorrow.

See you then.

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