‘I Stand By That’: Sunny Hostin Doubles Down on Bashing American Flag

Nicholas Fondacaro
July 14th, 2026 1:30 PM

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ABC News co-host Sunny Hostin made headlines last week after The View returned from their Fourth of July break and went off on how much she hated the American flag and how it made her feel “unsafe.” Then, on Monday’s edition of their Behind the Table podcast, Hostin doubled down. She seemingly equated it to seeing the Confederate flag, claimed it was white supremacy, while at the same time she tried to defend herself by arguing that she had an American flag keychain and a flag inside her house.

Podcast host and The View’s executive producer Brian Teta and Hostin seemed surprised that there was so much outrage and negative reaction to her flag bashing since she had said it on the show in the past:

TETA: Something you said last week on the show got a lot of attention, what else is new. But it was about the American flag. And this is something that you've said before more than once, but a conversation you talked about it.

(…)

HOSTIN: It's surprising to me that that's, it's a thing.

 

 

Teta then played a soundbite of Hostin from the main show saying that seeing a community with American flags outside made her feel “unsafe.”

“I stand by that,” Hostin proclaimed following the soundbite. She then suggested that hating the American flag was common in her social circles. “[T]his is not a new conversation amongst the black community, in the black community, it's something that we talk about,” she said.

If Hostin stood by her feelings as legitimate and it was something she’d felt for a long time, surely she would have some examples of her fear of American flags being justified. Right?

Well, Hostin never gave an example of that. Instead, she talked about how one time she was walking along a beach and saw a Confederate flag:

It's, you know, there was a point when, and I think I've talked about it on the show. I was visiting friends in North Carolina in the Outer Banks and they rented a house there and they had been there many times, a white couple. And on the beach, it's a beach that you can drive cars on. There was, I was walking with the kids. They were pretty young and there was a Confederate flag. And it, I was nervous. I'm in the South. I've got these two kids with me. I look the way that I look and I'm walking past Confederate flag with a group of dudes in a pickup truck on the beach.

 

 

“Somebody with a Confederate flag today means something different to a black person, perhaps than it means to a white person. So, I use that as an example,” she said.

Obviously, a Confederate flag was not the American flag.

Trying to hedge her comments, Hostin said she was mostly afraid of American flags being flown in non-military communities, said she had a flag keychain, and a flag “in” her home:

I have people that are in my family that have served Vietnam War, served in Afghanistan, have many, many military members in my family. They have flags outside of their homes. I don't feel uncomfortable with that. I have a flag keychain. My point is when you go into a community that's not a military community, it's not a military base, but it is a community with flags everywhere. (…) I have an American flag in my home.

Claiming the American flag had been “co-opted by the far-right,” she equated anyone who flew it to “white supremacists.” She even said it was “ridiculous” to think otherwise:

I'm saying that, unfortunately, at this time, the American flag has been co-opted by the far-right, many in the far-right and white supremacists. (…) And now, people - and they've weaponized the American flag. That is something that is happening in this country. And to deny that, you know, is ridiculous to me.

 

 

Teta informed her that there was a “movement to take the flag back” from those Hostin was describing. “I consider myself one of those people,” Hostin declared.

Except she wasn’t. She was more than happy to bash the flag as a racist and claim those who flew them were terrible people. She was the one applying a racist meaning to it.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s Behind the Table
July 13, 2026
02:05

BRIAN TETA: All right, let's talk about something serious or more serious.

SUNNY HOSTIN: Okay.

TETA: Something you said last week on the show got a lot of attention, what else is new. But it was about the American flag. And this is something that you've said before more than once, but a conversation you talked about it.

HOSTIN: On the show. I've said it many times.

TETA: But it seems to get people, they get very animated.

HOSTIN: See, that’s the thing, I don't read -

TETA: Thank God!

HOSTIN: -social media comments. As you know, I stopped years ago.

TETA: Yes.

HOSTIN: And that's why I'm just so happy and peaceful most of the time. And so, it's surprising to me that that's, it's a thing.

TETA: Let's take a listen to what it is that you said when we were talking about this.

HOSTIN: Okay.

[Cuts to video]

HOSTIN: There are times when I walk into a community and I see American flags all over the community and I suddenly feel unsafe, because there's a section of this country that has co-opted the American flag and they equate being an American or an American flag with white supremacy. And that should never be the symbol of white supremacy but they have weaponized.

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: 'Cause the flag belongs to all of us.

HOSTIN: It does belong to all of us.

[Cuts back to live]

TETA: So -

HOSTIN: I stand by that.

TETA: Yeah, it's something you've said and been very consistent about. And I've heard it from other people's color for sure.

HOSTIN: I was gonna say what's interesting is that this is not a new conversation amongst the black community, in the black community, it's something that we talk about.

It's, you know, there was a point when, and I think I've talked about it on the show. I was visiting friends in North Carolina in the Outer Banks and they rented a house there and they had been there many times, a white couple. And on the beach, it's a beach that you can drive cars on. There was, I was walking with the kids. They were pretty young and there was a Confederate flag. And it, I was nervous. I'm in the South. I've got these two kids with me. I look the way that I look and I'm walking past Confederate flag with a group of dudes in a pickup truck on the beach.

And I scurried back to the house and I said to the hosts, ‘do you know that there's a Confederate flag out there? You know, it didn't feel great.’ And they had seen the flag for years, but it didn't have the same effect on them as it would have on me. And they said they were sorry. It's not their fault, but they didn't realize that I would get a reaction from that, right?

TETA: I quit watching The Dukes of Hazard and looking at the General Lee and never thinking twice about it.

HOSTIN: The Confederate flag would mean something - somebody with a Confederate flag today means something different to a black person, perhaps than it means to a white person. So, I use that as an example.

I have military - I have people that are in my family that have served Vietnam War, served in Afghanistan, have many, many military members in my family. They have flags outside of their homes. I don't feel uncomfortable with that. I have a flag keychain. My point is when you go into a community that's not a military community, it's not a military base, but it is a community with flags everywhere.

Unfortunately, at this point in our country, the American flag has been co-opted by the far-right patriot. They call themselves patriots, people that storm the Capitol with Confederate flags and American flags. And now, people - and they've weaponized the American flag. That is something that is happening in this country.

And to deny that, you know, is ridiculous to me.

TETA: And what I've seen is talk about collapsing, people have co-opted what you said and tried to manipulate it in the idea that you hate the American flag.

HOSTIN: Of course not.

TETA: Of course, I mean -

HOSTIN: Of course not.

TETA: No, it's just you hate what’s been done -

HOSTIN: I have an American flag in my home. I'm saying that, unfortunately, at this time, the American flag has been co-opted by the far-right, many in the far-right and white supremacists.

TETA: So there are - We were just talking about this off camera. There are now movements to take the flag back, basically, to have people -

HOSITN: Which would be great. Because the bottom line is, you know, I don't think that the people that storm the Capitol are patriots. I don't think the January sixers are patriots. I don't think so.

And I think that people that, you know, fought for civil rights. I think people that want this country to live up to its ideals and that fight for that. Those people are patriots. And we should be able, and I consider myself one of those people. And I would be very happy to be part of a take the flag back, reclaim the American flag, as a symbol of what it should be, which is, I think, justice, which I think is freedom. I think it’s equality. It's sort of this -

TETA: The promise of what it was supposed to be.

HOSTIN: The promise of this country.

TETA: Absolutely.

HOSTIN: And so - we don't - I don't know if they still do the Pledge of Allegiance in schools -

TETA: Oh, sure.

HOSITN: - but that kind of thing. But that's not what I see often. I see something different.

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