Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro Spar Over Nigerians in Ukraine: 'That's Not Happening'

Sunny Hostin and Ana Navarro found themselves at odds Monday morning during a discussion about the crisis in Ukraine. When Hostin pointed to "upsetting" reports that African students, particularly those from Nigeria, are being prevented from leaving the country, Navarro repeatedly insisted "that was not happening," as per chef José Andrés, who has set up World Central Kitchen stations on the Ukraine-Poland border to feed refugees. As the bickering intensified, Whoopi Goldberg stepped in to intervene, yelling over them, "You're both right!"

While The View's co-hosts were united in their praise of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, things took a turn when Hostin brought up reports that Nigerians have been stopped from entering Poland, on the western border of Ukraine. "There are a lot of African students, Nigerian medical students, that are being denied passage out of the country. And the Nigerian president has been tweeting," she said. "Unfortunately, a lot of the Ukrainian border guards are letting women and children, and then men, and then the Nigerian students [out]."

"I have seen the same reports, which I thought were troublesome, too," replied Navarro, adding that she's "been a refugee of war" when her family was forced to flee Nicaragua. "Yesterday it gave me some comfort to see José Andrés, who tweeted out — he was there with a Nigerian woman, and he said he had spoken to people from India, and Congo, and African countries, and Jamaica, and that was not happening."

UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT ZELENSKY HAILED AS HERO: As many around the world rally around Ukraine for their continued fight against invading Russian troops, #TheView panel reacts after Putin put nuclear forces on alert and diplomatic talks take place. https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/cT3gBMlUIp

— The View (@TheView) February 28, 2022

Hostin wasted no time setting the record straight. "Well, I spoke to a friend of mine who was on the Polish border, was working with the [Turkish], and she assures me that it is happening," she said. "And there's plenty of video that it is happening."

"Sunny, my point is that war is chaos," said Navarro. "And right now —"

"All people in a conflict situation, Ana, have the same right to safe passage," replied Hostin.

When Navarro repeated that "José Andrés says that is happening," Whoopi tried to step in, until finally her voice rose above the fray. "There are boneheads on both sides!" said the longtime moderator. "So, yeah, both things are happening. People are able to get out, and a lot of people are not. The bottom line is, what the people are doing — they are standing up and helping folks get out. They're trying to help people get out."

Claire Spellberg Lustig is the Senior Editor at Primetimer and a scholar of The View. Follow her on Twitter at @c_spellberg.