Nikki Haley fired back after The View host Sunny Hostin criticized the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador for not going by her first name. Haley, whose first name is Nimrata, has gone by her middle name, Nikki, another Indian name, since she was a child.
After Hostin labeled Haley a “chameleon” for not embracing her ethnicity, the former ambassador released a statement slamming the host as “racist” for her “hypocrisy towards conservative minorities.”
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“What is her real name?” Hostin asked when co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin brought up Haley as a possible Republican contender in the 2024 presidential election on Tuesday’s episode. She further called Haley a “chameleon,” referencing what Hostin says is an ability to hide her ethnicity and “pass.”
“Thanks for your concern @Sunny. 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. What’s sad is the left’s hypocrisy towards conservative minorities. By the way, last I checked Sunny isn’t your birth name…” Haley wrote on Twitter.
Thanks for your concern @Sunny. 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.
What’s sad is the left’s hypocrisy towards conservative minorities.
By the way, last I checked Sunny isn’t your birth name… pic.twitter.com/NI3KZXjD6F
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) September 20, 2022
Later during The View’s broadcast, Griffin returned to the conversation, explaining that Haley has “gone by Nikki since she was a child” and that she may have opted to go by her middle name as “an Indian woman growing up in South Carolina at that time” so that she could “avoid prejudice.”
Hostin, unwilling to accept that defense, said, “There are some of us that can be chameleons and decide not to embrace our ethnicities so that we can pass.”
At that point, co-host Sara Haines called out Hostin, exclaiming, “Sunny, you go by a different name!”
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According to Hostin, she doesn’t go by her birth name, Asuncion, because Americans are unable to pronounce it due to their “under education.”
