Cynthia Erivo personally called The View cohost Sunny Hostin after the former federal prosecutor faced intense criticism for her controversial opinion about the Cornell sexual assault case.

Hostin revealed their conversation during Monday’s episode of the show’s Behind the Table podcast.

The controversy began after Hostin supported a New York district attorney’s 2024 decision not to bring charges against several Cornell University fraternity brothers accused of gang raping a fellow student.

During the September 29 episode of The View, Hostin argued there was “no way” Tompkins Country District Attorney Matthew Van Houten could have brought charges based on the statement that the accuser gave campus police following the alleged 2024 assault.

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According to the New York Post, Hostin said, “She allowed other boys and consented to other boys snorting ketamine off of her body.

Under New York law, voluntary intoxication or drug use that merely impairs judgement does not legally constitute an inability to consent to sexual activity.”

Hostin continued, “If you voluntarily ingest drugs, voluntarily take alcohol, you can agree to have threesomes. Which, in her statement, she agreed to have two seperate threesomes. There is no way, according to her statement in 2024, that any prosecture would’ve brought forth a case.”

Her comments triggered fierce backlash. Amid that reaction, Erivo, Hostin’s friend and sorority sister, contacted her directly to discuss how she had presented her argument on television.

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Hostin defended her initial approach during Behind the Table. “I see things, when it comes to the law, sort of black-and white,” she said, explaining that she applies the known facts to the law as part of her role on the panel.

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She said the other panelists had approached the subject emotionally, while she believed her job was to begin with the relevant law.

Hostin also described the New York law as “really terrible” and said it needed to be changed.

Hostin maintained that she later felt comfortable addressing the moral dimension after explaining the legal framework.

She said, “the morality of what happened is very different from the leglity of what happened.”

Erivo called Hostin from Paris, where the Wicked star was “actually working on a movie about consent and sexual assault.”

According to Hostin, Erivo had only watched a clip of her remarks about the case.

“She called me and said, ‘Sis, I know you and I know your heart and your life’s work has been protecting women and children. But, the clip that I saw doesn’t reflect who you are.'” Hostin recalled.

Erivo also emphasized their shared directness. “She then said, ‘I’m a blunt person and you are a blunt person.’ That’s why we get along so well, because we get the BS out when we talk to each other.”

According to Entertainment Weekly, Erivo advised Hostin to change how she introduced the legal argument.

Hostin said the message was, “Instead of leading with the law, I need to lead with empathy so that people can recieve the message about the law.”

Hostin said she followed that advice the next time the subject came up, leading with empathy before discussing what she described as the facts of New York law.

She said voluntary intoxication would require someone to be completely passed out, affirmatively say no, or be drugged involuntarily to prove sexual assault.

Hostin also rejected accusations that she had defended the young men or engaged in victim shaming.

She said she would never do that because she had spent most of her career prosecuting sex crimes.

She remained focused on her argument that New York law creates an excessively high bar for proving sexual assault.

Hostin said Jane Doe “voluntarily drank a lot” and “voluntarily snorted ketamine off of one of the boys’ body parts,” making the case difficult to prove based only on the law.