Correction: This article has been updated to reflect that Nikki Haley has faced criticism over her usage of “Nikki” since at least 2016.
Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley accused Sunny Hostin, a co-host of ABC’s “The View,” of racism after Hostin questioned Haley’s decision to go by Nikki as her first name.
“There are some of us that can be chameleons and decide not to embrace our ethnicities so that we can pass, so that we don’t have to go by …” Hostin said on Tuesday’s edition of the daytime political talk show.
Before Hostin could finish, Sara Haines, another co-host of the panel show interjected: “Sunny! You go by a different name!”
Hostin’s comments were widely circulated on social media early Tuesday afternoon, sparking a response from Haley.
“It’s racist of you to judge my name,” the ex-U.N. ambassador and former Republican governor of South Carolina said, tagging Hostin. “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, whose parents immigrated to the United States from India, was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa but has gone by Nikki since she was a child. She had taken criticism over her usage of “Nikki” since at least 2016, a USA Today fact check found.
She is one of several prominent Republicans who are expected to consider a run for the presidency in 2024.
