Why Sunny Hostin isn’t on ‘The View’ this week and when she’ll return

Sunny Hostin might be absent from The View this week, but it’s so she can be present for a monumental achievement in her son Gabriel’s life.

Moderator Whoopi Goldberg kicked off Tuesday’s live show with an announcement that Hostin wouldn’t be on The View for the remainder of the week, indicating that the 56-year-old would be in Cambridge, Mass., to attend Gabriel’s Harvard graduation at the university’s May 29 commencement ceremony.

“So, we have to tell you that Sunny is out this week because she’s attending our son’s college graduation,” Goldberg joked. “He’s graduating from Harvard!”

The View‘s audience applauded Gabriel’s academic feat, with Goldberg calling it “so wonderful” and voicing additional praise for the 22-year-old.

“We knew you could, and now you did,” the 69-year-old Ghost actress exclaimed. “So, yay for you!”

A representative for the talk show tells Entertainment Weekly that Hostin will be back at the Hot Topics table beginning Monday, June 2.

In Hostin’s absence, Tuesday’s episode saw Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sara Haines, and Alyssa Farah Griffin discuss current events, with Ana Navarro filling in for Hostin.

Gabriel previously made headlines after he was injured in a September 2023 car accident near Harvard, which saw him collide with a moving vehicle while he rode an electric skateboard.

“[My husband] Manny got the call first. Gabriel loves to get around Cambridge on his electric skateboard,” Hostin told View executive producer Brian Teta on an episode of the Behind the Table podcast. “He got hit by a car, and he flew over the hood of the car, and because he was not wearing the helmet that I bought for him the only way to kind of protect his head was to land on his right shoulder, which he dislocated and we believe is somewhat fractured.”

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Gabriel additionally made headlines in early 2024, when former View cohost Sherri Shepherd playfully thirsted over him during Hostin’s appearance on the Sherri show.

“I was watching you on the [Sherri] show, and she was like, out of her mind over your son. What the heck was that about? Alright, the kid’s hot, but really?” Behar quipped to Hostin.

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET/10 a.m. PT on ABC.