Nikki Haley brands The View’s Sunny Hostin ‘racist’ after host accused her of not using her Indian name to appeal to Republican voters… and points out that Sunny is not the TV star’s real name

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has branded The View’s Sunny Hostin a ‘racist’ after the liberal co-host slammed her for not using her Indian first name.

Sunny Hostin attacked Haley on Tuesday’s episode of the talk show, branding her a ‘chameleon’ as she insinuated the former ambassador does not use her given name, Nimrata, in an effort to appeal to Republican voters.

She was soon branded a ‘racist’ on Twitter, with many noting that Nikki is Haley’s middle name — and Hostin does not use her given first name, either.

By the afternoon, Haley, herself, decided to speak up on the matter.

‘Thanks for your concern @Sunny,’ the former South Carolina governor tweeted, claiming: ‘It’s racist of you to judge my name.

‘Nikki is an Indian name and is on my birth certificate — and I’m proud of that,’ she wrote. ‘What’s sad is the left’s hypocrisy towards conservative minorities.’

‘By the way, last I checked Sunny isn’t your birth name…,’ Haley added in her tweet to Hostin, whose birth name is Asunción Cummings Hostin.

The View co-host has not yet apologized for her comments, despite a furious backlash on Twitter.

Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley hit back at The View’s Sunny Hostin after the liberal co-host slammed her for not using her Indian first name. Haley is pictured here speaking at a campaign event for Republican Senate candidate for Georgia Herschel Walker

Hostin (pictured) suggested Haley does not use her given name, Nimrata, in an effort to appeal to Republican voters

In a tweet following the episode, Haley told Hostin ‘it’s racist of you to judge my name’

Her remarks came in response to cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin discussing who she thought would be a good Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election.

‘I think we’ve got some, if they’re willing to challenge Trump,’ she said of who she believes to be qualified candidates.

‘I’d love to see Nikki Haley, I’d love to see Liz Cheney…’

At that point, though, Hostin interrupted her co-host, saying: ‘And Nikki Haley, the chameleon and Liz Cheney who’s now the savior of —’

Farah Griffin then tried to wrestle back the conversation as the audience audibly gasped, saying: ‘I think Nikki Haley was an incredibly effective governor.’

But Hostin continued to fixate on her name, asking her co-host: ‘What is her real name, again?’

Farah Griffin then shot back, trying to defend the American diplomat by saying: ‘A lot of people don’t go by their actual real names.’

She added that she did not want to mispronounce Haley’s given first name, but noted that it is an Indian first name.

Still, Hostin kept picking at the issue, saying: ‘You know, I think if she leaned into being someone of color —’ before being interrupted by her co-hosts who argued that a lot of people don’t use their first names.

Hostin’s remarks came in response to cohost Alyssa Farah Griffin discussing who she thought would be a good Republican candidate for the 2024 presidential election

She later defended her own use of using a nickname, saying Americans can’t pronounce her real name, Asunción

Later on in the conversation, Farah Griffin decided to stick up for Haley once again, stating: ‘So Nikki Haley’s gone by Nikki since she was a child. It’s documented in high school.

‘I wouldn’t be shocked if somebody, an Indian woman growing up in South Carolina at the time, she actually did it to avoid prejudice,’ she added.

‘So I just want to be careful about critiquing her for going by a name she has always gone by.’

But Hostin would not back down, claiming: ‘Yes, there are some of us that can be chameleons and decide not to embrace our ethnicities so that we can pass.’

At that point, cohost Sara Haines seems to have become frustrated with the conversation, exclaiming: ‘Sonny, you go by a different name.’

Hostin then defended her use of the nickname by claiming ‘most Americans can’t pronounce Asunción because of the under-education in our country.’

‘But sometimes I would say, what Alyssa’s saying, people gravitate to different names for different reasons.’

Whoopi Goldberg, whose real name is Caryn Johnson, then decided it was time to cut off the conversation.

‘I’m going to kill this conversation,’ she told the audience, claiming: ‘I am authentically myself, I am Whoopi Goldberg, and we’ll be right back.’

Reaction to Hostin’s attack on Haley was swift, with many branding the cohost a ‘racist’ for her remarks in Tuesday’s episode

Reaction to Hostin’s attack on the former South Carolina governor was swift, with many branding the cohost a ‘racist’ for her remarks.

Curtis Houck, the managing editor of News Busters, tweeted: ‘ABC’s Sunny Hostin might — just might — be a racist for this disgusting smear of Nikki Haley, calling her a “chameleon” and implying she’s adopted “Nikki” as a fake name so Republicans aren’t turned off by her Indian heritage.’

Jeff Blehar, a podcaster for the National Review, added: ‘Leaving aside the consequence-free bigotry and her comical excuse for her own hypocrisy (“MY name is hard to pronounce!”), did anyone point out it’s not a nickname? SHE’S ACTUALLY NAMED NIKKI, IT’S HER MIDDLE NAME.’

Nicholas Fondacaro, an associate editor for the Media Research Center, also called Hostin a ‘villainous race-baiter’ who ‘essentially calls Haley a race traitor,’ and Seattle radio host Jason Rantz wrote: ‘TV’s dumbest lawyer @sunny Hostin effectively calls @NikkiHaley a sellout.

‘Sunny is a vile human being,’ he tweeted.

But Ben Domenech, editor-at-large at The Spectator, did not seem surprised by Hostin’s outburst.

‘Sunny Hostin race baiting? So it’s a day that ends in Y,’ he wrote.