Video News Clips: In Their Own Words

‘We’re Pretty Racist’: Sunny Hostin Whines About Being ‘Stuck’ In America

[Screenshot/The View]

“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin complained Friday about being “stuck” in the U.S. under President Donald Trump and alleged that the nation is more “racist” than anywhere in Europe.

The co-hosts responded to comedian Rosie O’Donnell’s move to Ireland to avoid Trump, with co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin arguing that Americans have more opportunities and rights than many of those in European countries. Hostin accused American democracy of failing and alleged that O’Donnell fleeing the U.S. is a privilege.

“I’d also remind folks, I think Americans love to think we’re so far behind Europe and they’re so progressive and ahead of us,” Griffin said. “It’s just not really the case, we remain one of the most ethnically diverse nations on Earth, the one where you’re most likely to come from one socioeconomic class and in your lifetime, be in a completely different one. This table doesn’t exist in a lot of Europe. On LGBTQ rights issues, we are about as advanced as most of Europe.”

“We’re pretty racist, too, though,” Hostin said, with Griffin pointing out that the U.S. is the most diverse. “It’s a pretty young democracy that doesn’t seem to be working right now and so I do think it doesn’t seem to be working for everyone and I think that’s Rosie O’Donnell’s prerogative and that’s her point. It doesn’t work for her family and she is one of the few people that can pick her life up and move it somewhere, most of us are stuck here.”

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European democracies have appeared to replace free speech and expression with censorship and arrests for those committing so-called hate speech crimes. In Great Britain, authorities arrested and tried military veteran and father Adam Smith-Connor for silently praying within a “buffer zone” surrounding an abortion clinic in the United Kingdom, in which he later faced a conviction.

A 61-year-old man named David Spring in Britain was sentenced to 18 months in prison in August 2024 for chanting “who the f*** is Allah” at a right-wing protest. In Scotland, the government passed a law prohibiting prayer within 200 meters of an abortion clinic.

European nations have been prosecuting their citizens for statements made online. A British veteran was arrested in August 2022 for denouncing LGBTQ and transgender activists online, which authorities said caused somebody “anxiety,” while Germany has prosecuted several people for spreading violent threats, malicious gossip and fake quotes.

In response to violent riots that broke out in the summer of 2024, the U.K. implemented several digital speech laws that regulate what is defined as hate speech, misinformation or harmful content. The nation also threatened to extradite any U.S. citizens who made any online statements that could allegedly cause violence, according to CBS Austin.

Vice President J.D. Vance berated European leaders to their faces for abandoning “some of their most fundamental values” in a Feb. 14 speech at the Munich Security Conference, pointing to such examples as Smith-Connor’s arrest and the cancellation of elections in Romania.

Trump, who has a long-standing feud with O’Donnell, mocked her exit from the U.S. during a Wednesday press conference with Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin, stating that he is “better off” not knowing who she is. During the 2016 Republican presidential debate, Megyn Kelly said Trump referred to women as a “fat pig,” a “dog” and a “slob,” prompting Trump to say he only referred to O’Donnell by those names.