The “Wicked” Oscar nominee explained to Hostin why she was getting backlash for her remarks. Hostin was accused of defending the seven accused men at the center of the case when she told viewers last week that “it’s important to understand why the DA did not bring a case” against them in 2024. She proceeded to explain the law without acknowledging at first that she disagreed with it, thus leading to outrage online.
But, the clip that I saw doesn’t reflect who you are,’” Hostin said of Erivo’s message. She said she’s had to learn to give people her opinion in a way that they can receive it rather than just be blunt.” Hostin said Erivo shared the following advice: “Instead of leading with the law, I need to lead with empathy so that people can receive the message about the law. That’s why the next time we talked about it, I led with that so that people would be able to receive the facts that, in New York, if you’re voluntarily intoxicated you’d have to be completely passed out, affirmatively say no, or you would have to be drugged involuntarily to prove sexual assault.” “I was accused of defending these young men, and victim-shaming, which is something I would never do since I spent the majority of my career prosecuting sex crimes,” Hostin added.
In New York, once someone is voluntarily intoxicated, to prove sexual assault. It’s already beyond a reasonable doubt, and then you add that on to it, the burden becomes so high. It’s almost impossible to prove sexual assault.” The Cornell 7 is the name given online to the seven male students accused of drugging and gang raping their female classmate (Jane Doe) at Cornell University in October 2024.
The woman is now suing her alleged assaulters as well as their fraternity, Cornell University, her former sorority and more. According to the woman’s attorney, Cornell’s original investigation into the alleged crime resulted in only two of the accused men being expelled. The other students received lesser sanctions, such as temporary suspensions, workshops or essay-writing assignments.
The case has earned widespread attention in Hollywood. Florence Pugh went viral on Instagram for urging men to speak out and to be “leading conversations about how we change the allowance and complicity of this behavior… This is really the moment where we need our men to be as horrified and as sickened as us.” After Pugh’s post, several other celebrities such as Mariska Hargitay, Josh Gad, Hudson Williams and more used social media to also condemn the Cornell 7.
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