Sunny Hostin On Cornell Sexual Assault Allegations & New York Law That ‘Has To Be Changed’

The View: Behind the Table

Sunny Hostin joins Brian Teta to dissect the ongoing sexual assault allegations at Cornell University, focusing heavily on New York's stringent consent laws and the high legal bar for prosecution. She

Key takeaways

• Hostin argues New York's voluntary intoxication consent law is fundamentally broken, requiring victims to be involuntarily drugged or completely unconscious to meet the beyond-a-reasonable-doubt standard.
• Cynthia Erivo called Hostin after seeing a clipped segment, advising her to lead with empathy rather than blunt legal facts so audiences can better receive critical information about consent laws.

Main topics

• Cornell University sexual assault allegations
• New York consent & voluntary intoxication law reform

Notable quotes

"The law is the problem... I hope that people take these feelings that they're having this outrage, which they should be outraged that this is the law, and vote."

Conclusion

The episode underscores the urgent need for legislative reform regarding consent laws while

Transcript preview

Speaker 4 (0:00) On October 19th, 2025, the Louvre became the backdrop of something straight out of a heist movie. In this series, I'll take you inside the events of that day, through the eyes of the people who lived them. Then, I'll join the international hunt for the Louvre jewels. Heist at the Louvre, a new series from ABC Audio. Listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or your favourite podcast app. Or subscribe to 2020 True Crime Plus on Apple Podcasts to listen ad-free. All right. It is Monday, October Speaker 3 (0:31) 5th. I am here Speaker 4 (0:33) with the only person that can make Mondays Speaker 3 (0:35) a little lighter for me, Sunny Hostin. Hello, Sunny. Speaker 2 (0:37) Thank you, my friend. How are you? I'm good. I'm good. Speaker 3 (0:52) I want to dive into it because we didn't get a chance to talk about it on the show today, but this Cornell case is still captivating everybody's attention and understandably so. Developments continue to come out of these sexual assault allegations at Cornell University. The school's president spoke out for the first time in a video message promising a transparent investigation and acknowledging that the school must do better. You've pointed out this New York law, which you said absolutely has to be changed because it really has to be changed. it makes it incredibly difficult to prosecute anybody. Speaker 2 (1:24) It's true. You know, let me start by saying this, because, you know, you've known me for a long time, Brian. I see things, when it comes to the law, sort of black and white. I apply the facts as I know them to the law, and I come to... Which was your job Speaker 3 (1:42) for a very, very long time. Speaker 2 (1:43) Yes, and it's my job, in a sense, on this panel, right? When I first... talked about this topic on the panel, I led with the law because everyone else had spoken emotionally about it. And I needed, I felt, to bring us back to this New York law, which is really... Speaker 2 (2:04) terrible and needs to be changed. And in the second segment, I then was comfortable enough after I had spoken about the law to talk about the moral issue, because the morality of what happened is very different from the legality of what happened, right? They're two different things in my head. And of course, TMZ and others only clipped the first part of the conversation and not the second part of the conversation. And I was accused of, you know, defending Speaker 2 (2:34) these young men and victim shaming, which is something that I would never do since I spent the majority of my career prosecuting sex crimes. But what was interesting to me, and so I was kind of fascinated by... Speaker 2 (2:55) The way people received the information that I gave, which was ultimately the law in New York must be changed because the bar is so very high in New York. Once someone isn't voluntarily intoxicated to prove sexual assault, it's already beyond a reasonable doubt. And then you add that onto it, the burden becomes so high you can't. It's almost impossible to prove sexual assault. And so Cynthia Erivo is a good friend of mine. That may be surprising to people, but we're both in the same sorority. We've spent a lot of time together. And I love her. And she loves me. And she called me from Paris. And she's actually working on a movie about consent and sexual assault. Oh, really? And she had only seen the clip. And she called me and said, sis. I know you and I know your heart and I know your life's work has been about protecting women and children. But the clip that I saw doesn't reflect who you are. And she then said, you are such a blunt. I'm a blunt person and you are a blunt person. And that's why we get along so well, because we cut the BS out when we talk to each other and with each other. And she said, had you led. She said sometimes she had she said she has had to learn. to give people her opinion in a way that they can receive it, rather than just be blunt. And she said that I need to, instead of leading with the law, I need to lead with empathy. So that people can receive the law, the message about the law. And that's why the next time we talked about it, I led with that so that people would be able to receive the facts that in New York, if you are voluntarily intoxicated, you would almost have to be completely passed out. You would have to affirmatively say no, or you would have to be. Speaker 2 (5:16) drugged involuntarily. Speaker 2 (5:19) To prove sexual assault. Speaker 3 (5:22) Right. Which is different than saying that this you don't have empathy for this person. I Speaker 2 (5:28) don't Speaker 3 (5:28) have empathy Speaker 2 (5:29) that that. And I do want to say all Speaker 3 (5:33) seven fraternity brothers have denied wrongdoing. I want to be clear about that. Speaker 2 (5:36) It's very different than defending. Well, you are a very empathetic Speaker 3 (5:40) person. And I think what I've seen having done these types of stories with you over 10 years, because there are many and I saw people commenting about this and I think it. through them because there have been other examples of conversations we've had about cases and legal cases where you were very emotional and here you were very analytical. And Speaker 2 (5:57) I was analytical for many reasons. Speaker 3 (6:00) I Speaker 2 (6:00) really felt it necessary to make it very clear. I've also seen facts of the case. Speaker 3 (6:06) Over time, I've seen you talking about these kinds