Sunny Hostin said Wednesday she takes the removal of Washington D.C.’s Black Lives Matter street mural “a little personally.”

“The View” co-host discussed the city officially removing the street art earlier this week with her executive producer Brian Teta as part of “The View’s” “Behind the Table” podcast. She described feeling “saddened” and “devastated” by the move, particularly because of her personal connection to the Black Lives Matter movement.

“Of course, I take it a little personally because one of my closest friends is Alicia Garza, who wrote the letter that started the Black Lives Matter movement, and she is one of our thought leaders of our generation. And so, I’m saddened by it,” Hostin said.

Black Lives Matter Plaza with White House in the background

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser announced earlier this month that the Black Lives Matter mural would be removed. (Jacquelyn Martin, File)

 

Garza was considered one of the co-founders of the Black Lives Matter movement after originating the #blacklivesmatter hashtag in 2013 after George Zimmerman’s acquittal for the fatal shooting of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin.

Hostin also claimed Black Lives Matter was the “second most important civil rights movement in American history” and that removing the mural was part of a “continuation of the erasure of American history.”

However, she did not blame D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser for the move, instead blaming Republicans.

“It was extortion, and you know, what was Mayor Bowser going to do with that?” Hostin remarked. “The city can’t run, Washington D.C….The city cannot run without government funding, without federal government funding, it just cannot have representation. It cannot do anything.”

Alicia Garza

“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin said she considers Black Lives Matter co-founder Alicia Garza to be one of her “closest friends.” (Photo by Craig Barritt/Getty Images for Audible)

A bill was introduced earlier this month by Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., to “withhold certain apportionment funds from the District of Columbia unless the Mayor of the District of Columbia removes the phrase Black Lives Matter from the street symbolically designated as Black Lives Matter Plaza, redesignates such street as Liberty Plaza, and removes such phrase from each website, document, and other material under the jurisdiction of the District of Columbia.”

Bowser announced the mural would be removed and replaced.

Sunny Hostin near the BLM mural in DC

Hostin was “saddened” by the mural’s removal and claimed it was a form of “extortion” by Republicans. (ABC screenshot/Associated Press)

In a statement on X, Bowser said the mural and Black Lives Matter Plaza will now be part of “DC’s America 250 mural project” which will “invite students and artists to create new murals across all eight wards.