Sunny Hostin, a co-host of ABC’s talk show “The View,” drew sharp criticism for her statement, on the Jan. 6 edition of the show, for saying that the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was an “atrocity” that was “one of the worst moments in American history.”
“When you think about the worst moments in American history, you know, like World War II, things that happened, you know, like the Holocaust, chattel slavery,” she said. “We need to never forget, because past becomes prologue if you forget and erase.” (JNS sought comment from ABC and from the Walt Disney Company, which owns ABC.)
StopAntisemitism stated that it “is sickened to hear ‘The View’ host Sunny Hostin compare the Jan. 6 insurrection to the Holocaust.”
“Over 6 million Jews were massacred during the Holocaust,” the group said. “For an entertainment host to compare a riot to such a massive stain in history is nauseating at best.”
The syndicated radio host Hugh Hewitt wrote that Hostin’s remarks are “hyperbole on a grand scale that ignores the millions who died and suffered as enslaved people, fighting for long years around the world in World War II and of course the 6 million murdered by Hitler.”
“What an insult to every Jewish person on the planet, past and present,” wrote Scott Jennings, a political commentator and former special assistant to President George W. Bush. “Breathtaking minimizing of one of the worst things to happen in human history. ABC will have to apologize, I bet.”
The remarks were also “an insult to the memory of every slave who was ever held or veteran who died defeating the forces of tyranny in World War II,” he added. “Geez. This statement doesn’t get any lower.”
Although “The View” has needed to issue four “legal notes” in a single show in the past clarifying remarks that its hosts made, there didn’t appear to be any such clarification about Hostin’s remarks during the Tuesday program.
