‘The View’s Sunny Hostin Defends DA’s Non-Prosecution in Cornell Rape Case

The View cohost Sunny Hostin spent years of her professional life prosecuting sex crimes cases. So when the first “Hot Topic” of the day on Tuesday (September 29) was the headline-making Cornell case — in which an unnamed woman has sued the school after alleging she was sexually assaulted by seven fraternity members — sheexpectantlyy had a major take.

While most of the other cohosts expressed horror over the story, Hostin was adamant that the district attorney who declined to prosecute the men in the case was right to do so.

After hearing some of the other cohosts’ opinions, Hostin said, “I’d like to just talk about the law for a second because I think it’s important to understand why the DA did not bring a case. Jane Doe in 2024, I actually have the statement that Jane Doe wrote at that time… It’s several pages long… and I will say that under current New York State law, voluntary intoxication or drug use — and she voluntarily drank a lot; she voluntarily took snorted ketamine off of one of the boys’ body parts; she [was] also highly intoxicated when she arrived at the frat house [and] had made plans to meet one of the young men. She allowed other boys and consented to other boys snorting ketamine off of her body, and under New York law, voluntary intoxication or drug use that merely impairs judgment does not legally constitute an inability to consent to sexual activity. So that means 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.”

Hostin then argued that the men who were allegedly involved were being treated “unfairly” by people on social media.

“One young man did walk in and say, ‘Everybody out.’ So there was one person that did that, and according to her statement, three of the young men did not touch her…. All that’s to say, the pictures of these young men who have not been charged, not been adjudicated, are being plastered all over the internet. I think people are reporting this story inaccurately. I think they’re reporting it unfairly. And while this is something that we have to take very seriously, there is no way, according to her statement in 2024, that any prosecutor would have brought charges.”

After some pushback from the cohosts, Hostin defended her position to say, “Now, I’ve prosecuted sex crimes for 10 years. I believe women. I am not saying that we shouldn’t believe her, but in 2024 she said one thing, and now in 2026 she’s saying another.”

Moderator Joy Behar had to intervene when some of the other cohosts challenged that position on moral grounds, bringing the discussion to a pause for a commercial break. When the show returned from the ads segment, guest cohost (filling in for Whoopi Goldberg, who’s filming a movie) Lisa Ling then pointed out that Jane Doe was not reimbursed, despite a request, by the university when she decided to withdraw as a result of her trauma.

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“How about the fact that the girl says that seven guys raped her, and they tell them to write essays about it?” Behar then added.

Alyssa Farah Griffin pointed out that the university has denied that essays were a form of punishment offered to the accused, and then Hostin changed her tune when it came to how the university itself responded to the claims.

“I think you have to think about it from a legal position at this point, but I will also say this: I think corporate governance or a university’s governance has to be even-keeled. It has to be the same all around. I mean, in the spring of 2024, Cornell suspended something like 18 students for participating in pro-Palestinian protests. Yet this happens in 2024, and some of the kids write essays.”

Hostin also agreed that rape is “the most underreported crime” in the country.

Also during the discussion, Ling shared her own harrowing experience with being nearly sexually assaulted in a frat house during her college years.

“It made me think about an experience that I had when I was in college. I was this close to being sexually assaulted, and if I had been intoxicated or inebriated in any way, I don’t know what would have happened. I literally ran out of a room, and it was in a fraternity house with a fraternity boy, and he had the audacity to say something to me, which I’ll never forget, which is, ‘You are at the university level. You better get used to it,'” Ling said. She later admitted that she didn’t report the near-assault, explaining, “I didn’t tell anyone because for me I was thinking, ‘Did I put myself into this situation?'”

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If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual assault, contact the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network‘s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673). If you or a loved one is in immediate danger, call 911.