Sunny Hostin Reacts to Derogatory Comments Made About Her by ‘Racist’ ABC Executive [VIDEO]

*Sunny Hostin has responded to the racist comments that were allegedly made about her by longtime ABC exec Barbara Fedida. 

Fedida, who is senior vice president, talent and business at the network, has been placed on administrative leave after a report from Huffington Post’s Yashar Ali, outlined the accusations of racism and her treatment of Black journalists at the network.

Hostin said she was deeply “disappointed and saddened” by the comments Fedida made about her and other on-air talent, including Robin Roberts.

During Monday’s episode of “The View,” Hostin and her co-hosts addressed the HuffPost report, PEOPLE reports. 

“We want to address a Huffington Post article from this weekend about ABC News Senior Vice President of Talent and Business Affairs, Barbara Fedida,” said Whoopi Goldberg. “The article cited unnamed sources claiming that Fedida made racist and derogatory comments about several members of staff.”

Hostin added,  “It was a tough weekend for me and I was really disappointed and saddened and hurt when I learned about the racist comments that were made allegedly about me, my colleagues and my dear friends,” she said. 

“Because if true, to reference Robin Roberts, who is one of the most respected and beloved journalists in our country, as picking cotton. To reference me, someone who’s been very open about having grown up in public housing, as being low rent,” Hostin continued. 

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1. EXCLUSIVE: For the past six months I’ve been investigating a very powerful media executive you’ve never heard of: ABC News head of talent Barbara Fedida. What I uncovered is confidential settlements, racist and inappropriate statements, and more…https://t.co/t3QifFnUW7

— Yashar Ali ? (@yashar) June 13, 2020

“To reference Kendis Gibson, who was my office mate at ABC and now is an MSNBC anchor, to say that he isn’t worth paying as much as ABC would pay for toilet paper. The fact that Mara Schiavocampo, who is a friend and a former colleague at ABC, the fact that she has an NDA in place and can’t talk about her experiences at ABC tells me that systemic racism touches everything and everyone in our society, regardless of social stature,” she said. “No one is immune.”

Hostin went on to say, “it’s the type of racism that black people deal with every single day and it has to stop. And I look forward to the results of what I hear is going to be an independent external investigation.”

Fedida responded to the controversy via a statement through her attorney, saying “Throughout my career, I have been a champion for increased diversity in network news. Building a news division where everyone can thrive has been my life’s mission. I am proud of my decades of work of hiring, supporting and promoting talented journalists of color. And, unlike these heartbreaking and incredibly misleading claims about me, that track record is well-documented and undeniable.”

Goldberg, who knows Fedida personally, defended her, saying: “I know Barbara Fedida and I don’t think she’s a racist. Everything I know about her doesn’t say that she has this in her,” she said.

Fam, we know we really can’t take anything Whoopi says too seriously, especially when it comes to her opinion of non-Black folks. Reminder, she used to date Ted ‘Blackface’ Danson and once defended alleged rapist Roman Polanski. 

Goldberg also encouraged folks who are captivated by this drama to wait for the “independent investigation” before jumping to conclusions. 

“But I will say that one of the things that everyone should always make sure we say, and I say it all the time, is let’s find out. Let’s find out, because if it’s true, she’s gone. But if it’s not, let’s find out what’s going on. An independent investigation is what this needs, because you know the days of systemic racism are ending,” she said. “

Adding, “Those walls are coming down and we’re pulling them down. So I feel like having lived through this kind of thing where someone accused me of doing something I didn’t do, I’m always first and foremost to say, ‘Okay, let’s find out what really is the truth,’ and once we find out what the truth is, we’ll deal with it. Because nobody can deal with this anymore. There’s too much stuff happening in the world. No reason for anybody to be in this kind of pain.”

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