Podcaster Joe Rogan called The View a “rabies-ridden chicken coop” after one of its hosts called a black author a “charlatan” and “pawn of the right.”
Coleman Hughes was dressed by Sunny Hostin when he appeared on the show last week to promote his new book.
The CNN analyst wrote in The End of Race Politics: Arguments for a Colorblind America that people should not define themselves by their race.
But Hostin criticized his book’s thesis as “fundamentally flawed” and “something that the right has co-opted.”
“So many in the black community … believed that you are being used as a pawn by the right and that you are some kind of charlatan,” she said.
Podcaster Joe Rogan called The View a “rabies-ridden chicken coop” after one of its hosts called a black author a “charlatan” and “pawn of the right”
Coleman Hughes looks stunned as he is dressed by Sunny Hostin as he appeared on the show last week to promote his new book
Hughes, an independent who voted Democratic, defended himself and appeared to have the support of the studio audience, who cheered many of his answers.
On Wednesday, he went on Rogan’s podcast and spent part of the three-hour interview discussing the on-air clash with Hostin.
Rogan dismissed The View as a “rabies-ridden chicken coop” that often went viral when the hosts said “ridiculous things” that viewers “love to hate.”
He added that Hostin came across as intelligent on the panel but was “ideologically hardwired” and part of a show that operates in a “very specific ideological bubble.”
Hughes said he didn’t really know who Hostin was before going on the show and didn’t expect his character to be attacked on air.
“I didn’t necessarily expect her to try to ambush me like that and attack my character like that,” he said.
“I immediately responded to it like I do, and I didn’t expect it to go as viral as it did, but I think it’s gone arguably more viral than anything I’ve ever done.”
Hostin criticized his book’s thesis as “fundamentally flawed” and “something that the right has co-opted.”
Hostin also accused Hughes of being “conservative,” claiming he identified himself as such in another interview and that he went a step further when he corrected her.
“I don’t think there’s any evidence that I’ve been co-opted by anyone and I think that’s an ad hominem tactic that people are using to not really engage with the important conversations that we’re having here,” he responded.
“I think it’s better and it’s better for everyone if we stick to the issues, rather than it being about me without any evidence that I’ve been co-opted.”
He said he was an independent who had voted only twice, both for Democrats, and might support a “convincing” Republican against Biden, but not Trump.
Hughes told Rogan he thought the interview went viral because “you very rarely see someone who has a character attack, calmly denounces it as evidence-free and then just goes back to the topic at hand.”
Hughes also discussed that point with Racket newswhere it was clear that Hostin “had no idea what she was talking about.”
“I know (Hostin) said I identified as a conservative, which was surprising to me because unless I blacked out, I don’t remember that,” he said.
‘She was very confident. I almost gaslighted myself. I thought, “Did I forget something I said on a podcast?”
Huges added that he was still unsure how Hostin got the idea that he was “a pawn of the right.”
“Maybe I’m letting the Koch brothers move me like a puppet and pump money into my bank account somehow,” he speculated that she might have believed.
“And that has somehow compromised my judgment, or rather my honesty.”
Hughes went on Rogan’s podcast on Wednesday and spent part of the three-hour interview discussing the on-air clash with Hostin
Speaking to co-host Whoopi Goldberg, Hughes explained that his argument was more of an idea to strive for.
Hughes also noted that the audience seemed to be on his side during the segment, and co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin stood up for him.
“I don’t know if I’ve changed my mind, or if the show has revealed that there are a lot of liberals who agree with what I’m saying,” he said.
Hughes explained his position on The View last week as follows: people should “treat people without regard to race.”
“Many people equate color blindness with ‘I don’t see race’ or pretend they don’t see race,” he said.
‘That’s a big mistake. We all see race, right? And we are all capable of being racially biased, so we should all be aware of that possibility.
‘My argument is not for that. My argument is that we should do our best to treat people without regard to race, both in our personal lives and in public policy.”
Hughes said the reason he wrote the book was because the US had become too “woke” over the past decade about the way it taught race in schools.
“It became popular to teach our children some kind of philosophy in the name of anti-racism, and it generally says that your race is everything,” he said.
“I think this is the wrong way to fight racism and that’s why I wrote this book.”
Speaking to co-host Whoopi Goldberg, Hughes explained that his argument was more of an idea to strive for.
”It’s an ideal, it’s a North Star and the point is not that we’ll ever get there or touch it, but we have to know where we’re going and where we’re going – and we’re going backwards.’
