“The View” co-hosts pushed back against their colleague, Sunny Hostin, over her outrage regarding the British monarchy’s past during a Friday segment.
Hostin condemned the British monarchy’s colonization of the Caribbean islands and control of Africa’s raw mineral resources, and claimed the nation made $1 trillion off of the continent’s natural resources. The co-host then argued the monarchy’s “pomp and circumstance” had been “built on the backs and the souls of slaves.”
“Now that I’ve learned a little more bit about the history of England and the colonization of the Caribbean and the fact that Britain and the monarchy took $1 trillion from Africa, and I’ve learned that Jamaica is now removing the queen from her position there, and Barbados removed the queen, and all the Caribbean islands are removing the queen,” Hostin said. “Now, I’m not as enamored of the pomp and circumstance, because it was built on the backs and the souls of slaves.”
Co-host Whoopi Goldberg argued that imperialism also took place on American soil. She said she appreciated the monarchy as being British tradition. (RELATED: Sunny Hostin Says White Women Voted For Youngkin So They Could Pretend Slavery Didn’t Happen)
Co-host Sara Haines added that Americans have a sugarcoated vision of princes and princess from growing up with Disney characters that ignores the “real history.” She then raised the question of where England gets the money to continue funding the royal family.
“It comes back in tourist money,” Behar said.
“How do you justify it in a time where you watch everything going on in the world? You have Ukraine, in this country we’re having shootings every day,” Haines said.
“Instead of food and good weather, they have the queen,” Hostin replied.
Behar said the monarchy has contributed roughly $2.7 billion to Britain’s economy. Co-host Whoopi Goldberg said maintaining the lavish palaces and property owned by the monarchy has been paid for privately from the family in recent years.
“Where do they make their money, though?” Haines asked.
“They made it from the slave trade,” Hostin replied.
“Actually, this — no, Sunny,” Goldberg replied.
“That was then, this is now,” Behar replied.
Britain abolished slavery with the passage of the Abolition of Slavery Act in 1833, ordering the gradual freeing of slaves in the country and all British colonies, according to Reuters. Britain and Spain signed a treaty banning the slave trade within the same year.