Sunny Hostin revealed that Cynthia Erivo phoned her from Paris to challenge her viral on-air remarks about the Cornell University sexual assault case.
Hostin, 57, shared the private call during Tuesday’s “Behind the Table” podcast episode, disclosing that the “Wicked” star, 39, reached out after watching the clip that sparked backlash last week. The two women, who share a sorority connection, have spent considerable time together over the years.
Erivo told her, “Sis, I know you and I know your heart and your life’s work has been about protecting women and children,” Hostin recounted on the podcast. The actress acknowledged that both women are “blunt” people, but she advised Hostin that she needs “to learn to give people her opinion in a way that they can receive it rather than just be blunt.”
Erivo pressed further, suggesting Hostin should “lead with empathy … instead of leading with the law” so that “people can be [open to] receiving the message about the law.”
Hostin noted that her “good friend” made the call while in Paris, where she is “working on a movie about consent and sexual assault.”
The phone call followed Hostin’s Sept. 29 remarks on “The View” regarding the seven fraternity brothers accused of gang-raping a woman, identified as Jane Doe, in October 2024. The men have denied any wrongdoing. Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten initially declined to bring charges, though his office is now revisiting the case after the alleged victim filed a civil lawsuit against Cornell University and the Chi Phi fraternity on Sept. 16.
During the broadcast, Hostin stated that “there is no way, according to her statement in 2024, that any prosecutor would’ve brought forth a case.” She elaborated on the legal standard: “Under New York law, voluntary intoxication or drug use that merely impairs judgment does not legally constitute an inability to consent to sexual activity. … If you voluntarily ingest drugs, voluntarily take alcohol, you can agree to have threesomes.”
On Monday’s podcast, Hostin defended her approach while conceding she is an “empathetic person” and was not “defending” the fraternity members. She explained that she sees “things, when it comes to the law, sort of black and white” and that, in her head, “the morality of what happened [was] very different from the legality of what happened.”
“Those are two different things,” she stated.
Hostin described it as her “job, in a sense,” to “apply the facts as [she] know[s] them to the law,” particularly since her fellow co-hosts had spoken “emotionally” about the topic. She added that she did “speak about the moral issue” later in the episode once she was “comfortable” having given her legal perspective.
The original incident that generated widespread reaction occurred when Hostin applied her prosecutorial background to analyze why criminal charges were not filed against the seven men. Her clinical breakdown of consent law under New York statutes, delivered in the talk show’s multi-host format, circulated widely online and drew criticism for its perceived lack of sensitivity toward the alleged victim. The case involves accusations that Jane Doe was sexually assaulted at a Chi Phi fraternity house near the Cornell campus in Ithaca, with the district attorney’s initial decision not to prosecute prompting the subsequent civil action.
Erivo’s intervention represents a rare instance of a celebrity peer directly counseling a television personality on public communication strategy.
Hostin has not indicated whether she will modify her on-air approach following the conversation.