'I didn't know who Sunny Hostin was,' Coleman Hughes said of the co-host who lashed out at him on the show, 'I actually still really don't know'
'The View' co-host spars with author arguing for a 'colorblind America'
"The View" co-host Sunny Hostin questioned author Coleman Hughes on Wednesday over his argument for colorblindness in America and asked him to respond to those who think he's being used as a "pawn" by the right.
Podcaster Joe Rogan spoke with author Coleman Hughes spoke about his contentious interview on "The View," calling out the show’s hosts for being notoriously obnoxious.
Hughes joined the co-hosts of "The View" to discuss his book, "The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America," in late March. During the show, co-host Sunny Hostin slammed Hughes’ "argument for colorblindness," as something co-opted by the right, claiming many in the Black community think him to be a "charlatan of sorts" being "used as a pawn by the right."
After noting his history of voting for Democrats, Hughes pushed back, "I don’t think there’s any evidence I’ve been co-opted by anyone and I think that’s an ad-hominem tactic people use to not address, really, the important conversations we’re having here."
On the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, the host remarked that "The View" is a show that "people love to hate" for its viral clips of its hosts saying "ridiculous things," deriding "The View" as a "rabies-infested henhouse."
Podcaster Joe Rogan speaks with Coleman Hughes, the author of of "The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America." (The Joe Rogan Experience and Spotify)
Hughes recalled how he went into "The View" having "no idea what to expect," adding, "I didn't know who Sunny Hostin was, I actually still really don't know."
He elaborated, "I wasn't expecting necessarily for her to kind of try to ambush me in that way and attack my character in that way and I responded to it in the moment as I do, and I didn't expect it to go as viral as it did, but I think it arguably went more viral than anything I've ever done."
Later, Hughes noted, "At the same time, it seemed like the most interesting part was their audience seemed to be on my side."
Rogan suggested that much of their audience on set is paid to be there, a practice he said is common in the industry, whereas "the real fans of ‘The View’ that are like, ‘Oh these ladies are on point,’ most of those people can't leave the house, like they're probably immobile." The host also argued that while Hostin appears intelligent, she is "ideologically captured" and some of the other hosts are "very dull-minded."
Hughes suggested, "I think she came into it with an agenda," saying that Hostin claimed to have read his book twice, a claim he rejected as "almost certainly not true."
Author and podcast host Coleman Hughes joins "The View" on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, to discuss his new book. (Screenshot/ABC/TheView)
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Rogan argued the chief problem with "The View" is that it "has this very specific ideological bubble in which they operate in, and they always bring on a token conservative woman, they yell over her and silence her, and you know they did that with Megan McCain."
Hughes lamented that in the 8 minutes he had to spread a message about race that he says many viewers would benefit from hearing, Hostin chose to spend much of that time attacking his character in a way that eventually backfired when he called her out for the ad-hominem attacks and asked her to get back on topic.
"Part of the reason it went viral is because, what people have told me is, you very rarely see someone who gets a character attack on a big TV platform calmly expose it as evidence-free and then just move back to the topic," he said.
Fox News' Hanna Panreck contributed to this report.
Alexander Hall is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to
