Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley (R) made it clear on Wednesday that she was not expecting an apology for racist remarks “The View” host Sunny Hostin made with regard to her name.
Haley made an appearance on Fox News’ “The Faulkner Focus” with anchor Harris Faulkner, and she outlined the double standard that would allow Hostin to get away with saying racist things as long as they were directed at conservative minorities.
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"You won’t see her fired from that show. We won’t see an apology from that show," @NikkiHaley doubles down after dust-up with #TheView. "Had this been said about a Democrat, all hell would have broken loose." @FaulknerFocus pic.twitter.com/sAOrpKIfyT
— Virginia Kruta (@VAKruta) September 21, 2022
Haley, who also served under former President Donald Trump as the United States Ambassador to the United Nations, responded directly to Hostin’s accusation that she was a “chameleon” who chose to go by Nikki — rather than her more ethnic-sounding first name Nimrata — in order to “pass.”
“Wow, she really is that racially ignorant?” Faulkner asked after playing a clip of Hostin’s comments. “Your response?”
“It is not the first time and it won’t be the last time that the hosts of ‘The View’ come after me, or that liberals come after me in whatever way,” Haley replied. “They can’t stand the fact that a minority female would be a conservative Republican.”
Haley went on to describe what had happened when she had won the South Carolina gubernatorial race: “A reporter went to a high-ranking African American Democrat female and said, ‘How do you feel that South Carolina now has their first minority governor?’ And she said, ‘Nikki Haley is not a minority. She is just a conservative with a tan.'”
“Ooooh,” Faulkner
“So you look at what Sunny Hostin does and the idea that no, Sunny is not her name. Nikki is my name. It is on my birth certificate, it is an Indian name, and I embrace my Indian heritage,” Haley continued. “The idea that they can do this … You won’t see her fired from that show. We won’t see an apology from that show. They let liberals say that about conservative Republican minorities all the time. But yet nothing is done. Had this been said about a Democrat, all hell would have broken loose.”
Haley had previously pointed out the fact that Hostin’s real first name is Asunción, but when Hostin was challenged directly by co-host Sara Haines, she claimed that when she chose to go by a different name it was not about “passing” — rather, she said it was because Americans were too stupid or under-educated to pronounce it properly.
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But wait, there's more! Later, Sara Haines & Alyssa Farah Griffin called Sunny out for her racist smear on Nikki Haley, noting Sunny isn't her real name (as it's actually Asunción Cummings).
Sunny says it's b/c people are too stupid to pronounce it. pic.twitter.com/zJouJT2Ozk
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) September 20, 2022