In the aftermath of Aziz Ansari being accused of sexual misconduct by a Brooklyn-based photographer, a heated debate has broken out on whether or not it was indeed assault or simply a “bad date” — as the incident seems to reside in a murky area no one can quite agree on. On Monday night HLN’s Ashleigh Banfield, known for her emotional reading of the Stanford rape survivor’s letter in 2016 came down squarely on the latter stance, delivering a scathing open letter to the woman identified only as “Grace,” in addition to a few other prominent female columnists who have expressed concern over the validity of the allegations.
On Tuesday morning, the controversy made its way to The View, as the panel attempted to make heads or tails of things. “So, then becomes question then becomes, for me at least, what is a non-verbal cue?” Whoopi Goldberg asked the two younger women at the table, referring to the young woman’s rationale that Ansari should have picked up on the fact that she was not comfortable. While co-hosts Meghan McCain and Sunny Hostin treaded lightly on the subject. however, Goldberg didn’t seem to be buying it.
It seems to be a bit of an issue,” Goldberg pointed out. “Because now this means, so, if you’re on a date and he’s not as a good as you thought, and you’re uncomfortable, and you’re going [mimics a non-verbal cue] does that mean stop, get out, go away?”
“Whatever happened to, ‘Stop or I’m going to knock you in your nuts?'” Goldberg continued, to resounding applause from the audience.
Examining the subject further, as a former attorney, Hostin said that there seems to be a missing piece in what each party took out of the date. “But the question is,” she posited, “Is this really sexual assault? I can tell you this isn’t a case I’d bring to trial.” Clearly, there are no easy answers to be found, and the subject doesn’t seem to be going anywhere, anytime soon.