‘View’ Host Sunny Hostin Stunned to Learn Her Ancestor Was a Slaveholder

“The View” host Sunny Hostin was shocked to discover her family’s hidden history in a new episode of the PBS documentary show “Finding Your Roots.”

{snip} On Tuesday’s episode, show host Henry Louis Gates Jr. revealed one of Hostin’s ancestors on her maternal side was likely involved in the slave trade in colonial Spain.

Her third great-grandfather also “owned at least one human being,” he said.

Hostin, whose mother is Puerto Rican and father is Black, confessed the revelation left her “in shock.”

“Wow, I’m a little bit in shock. I just always thought of myself as half Puerto Rican. I didn’t think my family was originally from Spain and slaveholders,” she said.

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Gates teased Hostin that her White side of her family had to have “come from somewhere,” before jokingly asking her what she had against Spain.

“Just the colonization of other people,” Hostin responded with a chuckle before growing more somber. “I’m surprised that they were enslavers, actually. That’s disappointing.”

Hostin went on to say that her mother “certainly identifies as Puerto Rican and non-White, actually.”

“So I hate this for her,” she said with a laugh.

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