Sunny Hostin on Intimate Partner Violence

The View co-host Sunny Hostin, a former federal prosecutor, needs viewers who watched the Chris Brown: A Historical past of Violence documentary on Sunday night time to know that intimate accomplice violence has no boundaries.

“Home violence is an epidemic hiding in plain sight. It doesn’t discriminate. In that respect, wealth has little to do with many situations,” Hostin advised The Hollywood Reporter on Friday, forward of internet hosting the after-show dialogue on home violence that aired after the Investigation Discovery doc on Chris Brown.

The doc explored Brown’s years of alleged offstage aggression, together with intimate-partner violence, assault prices and sexual assault allegations that first got here to gentle in 2009 when the star rapper pled responsible to a felony cost of bodily assaulting former girlfriend Rihanna.

“That was not an remoted incident. It solely acquired consideration as a result of there’s a giant identify connected to it. And our aim is to say: That is taking place to so many individuals and you aren’t alone,” stated Hostin, who can also be a board member at Protected Horizon, a nationwide group working to cut back relationship violence and abuse.

Progress to stem home violence, she added, is not going to be made if allegations and instances round movie star abusers are sensationalized and the tales of atypical survivors should not heard. “That is one thing that doesn’t solely occur to well-known individuals. It doesn’t solely occur to Rihanna. It doesn’t solely occur with an R. Kelly or a P Diddy or a Harvey Weinstein or a Jeffrey Epstein,” Hostin insisted.

The authorized system can maintain home and intimate accomplice abusers to account, however with out the media consideration given to high-profile instances involving the wealthy and well-known. Given the dimensions of the issue, Hostin stated she jumped on the alternative to host the after-premiere panel for the Brown doc to supply instruments and assets to teach viewers on determine abuse and cease home violence. Hostin was joined by consultants and advocates together with NO MORE co-founder Jane Randel, CEO of The Nationwide Home Violence Hotline Katie Ray-Jones, Miss Kansas 2024 and Advocate for Wholesome Relationships Alexis Smith, cultural journalist Scaachi Koul and psychologist Dr. Carolyn West.  

“It’s crucial to know if it’s taking place to a buddy, a member of the family, it could even be taking place to you. As a result of a part of that is isolation, psychological abuse, monetary abuse, generally sexual abuse is concerned, in addition to psychological abuse,” she added.

Hostin identified that abusers with out wealth have enablers, too. “I’ve been advised [survivor] tales that they’ve reached out to members of the family and both they don’t imagine them, or they attempt to persuade them to stick with their abusers. This truly does occur,” she argued.

When requested in regards to the post-#MeToo leisure business — following Harvey Weinstein’s legal conviction and imprisonment, and now a jailed Sean “Diddy” Combs awaiting a legal trial that features racketeering conspiracy prices — the place highly effective celebrities can construct a community of enablers to hold out their sexual abuse, Hostin insisted unhealthy individuals prosper when good individuals don’t come ahead.  

“Oftentimes individuals see issues and so they don’t communicate up for no matter motive — possibly their job is at stake. Maybe they don’t acknowledge the indicators. The enabling portion is extraordinarily troubling,” she stated, including that the doc and her after-premiere dialogue are essential to providing instruments to permit home violence survivors to come back ahead, share their tales and be an instance to others.

“[Domestic violence] does thrive in silence and folks do sadly allow the conduct by not pointing it out and by not speaking about it,” she warned.

When talking to THR earlier within the week, ID President Jason Sarlanis stated the Brown doc, which may also assist launch ID’s third annual No Excuse for Abuse marketing campaign, goals to “normalize surviving.”

The doc had an prolonged interview with Jane Doe, an accuser who in December 2020, was invited to a celebration held by fellow rapper Diddy on Star Island, the place she alleged Brown raped her in a bed room on a yacht. The doc follows the current arrest and legal prices introduced in opposition to Diddy, who may also turns into the topic of an upcoming ID docuseries that’s set for a 2025 launch.

When the ID doc producers reached out to Brown and his representatives, an lawyer for the singer stated the allegations in this system had been “malicious and false.”

“This [Chris Brown] documentary acts as a cautionary story for our viewers to the extent it exemplifies the patterns and cycles of abuse that occur amongst women and men who’re perpetuators of home violence. With the ability to shine a lightweight on that’s actually invaluable for our viewers,” Sarlanis advised THR.