The View’s Sunny Hostin Defends Kanye West After He’s Pulled From Grammy Lineup: ‘Where Do We Draw the Line’ on Cancel Culture?

The View’s Sunny Hostin came to Kanye West’s defense after the rapper was pulled from the Grammy lineup for his recent “concerning online behavior.”

Prior to the Grammy Awards ban, West — now legally known as Ye — was hit with a 24-hour suspension from Instagram after he used racial slurs in a post berating The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah.

Noah had previously issued a warning that West’s feud with Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian could turn violent, which ultimately sparked West’s controversial Instagram post.

While Noah condemned the rapper’s behavior and his hosting this year’s Grammy Awards, he later defended West in a Sunday tweet that read, “I said counsel Kanye not cancel Kanye.”

Hostin issued a similar defense while discussing the topic on Monday’s edition of The View, highlighting West’s journey with mental illness and the stigma surrounding mental health at large.

“I’m very uncomfortable with banning him from performing,” Hostin said, adding, “Performance is an art and it’s speech in many instances, and the fact that yes, he’s been, on social media, that’s his right. It’s free speech.”

She went on to note that West’s 24-hour suspension has ended and he is back on the platform, adding, “Where do we draw the line? I believe in consequence culture.”

“I don’t believe in cancel culture, and I feel that because of the stigma of mental health, I think he is being stigmatized,” she said. “And bottom line is, people who are mentally ill, he’s been diagnosed with bipolar disorder, are much less likely to commit violence than have violence enacted upon them.”

While Hostin’s point is certainly valid, as those with mental illness are more likely to be harmed than to harm others, West has promoted violence towards Davidson to his nearly 16 million followers.

Sara Haines later noted that West is still nominated for several awards, pointing to his tendency to go off-script during award shows.

“I don’t know why they would leave him the open mic with no script, I think the performing would make more sense,” she said, adding, “But the problem is he’s in his — he’s in a place that’s not great right now.”

Haines went on to highlight that West has regularly taken down his posts after sharing them, predicting that either someone on his team is looking out for him or that he’s capable of recognizing his mistakes post-reflection.

“He’s having some impulse issues, which come hand in hand with some of these problems,” she said. “If he can’t help himself, you need to at least not put him in situations where even if there’s no physical threat, the very host of this award show was threatened by him.”

Hostin noted that Noah was not threatened by West, but called a racial slur, adding, “I’m not a Kanye West apologist. I’m talking about the actual policy.”

Ana Navarro went on to argue that while West may not perpetrate an act of violence, he has several followers who may, especially if the rapper says something inflammatory while accepting an award on the Grammy stage.

“Yeah, but we have something called the First Amendment in this country. We have freedom of speech. We have freedom of expression and we’re canceling Kanye West for something he may do,” Hostin added, prompting Haines to argue, “Canceling is ‘he’s never going to work again.’ He’s going to work again.”

Watch above, via ABC.