Nolan Wells: ‘Friends’ Threaten Sunny Hostin With Defamation Lawsuit

Lawyers for three of Nolan Wells’ “friends,” who accompanied him on a Fourth of July trip to Horn Island but returned without him, are threatening to sue Sunny Hostin, co-host of ABC’s The View, for defamation over what they described as two separate occasions — including an episode of the series that aired way back in July, the same month Wells’ body was discovered — in which she exhibited “pure negligence and recklessness” by making false or defamatory statements about their clients.

According to the Sun Herald, Mississippi attorney Tyler Cox and media law attorney Edward Andrew Paltzik, who represent Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo, and Morgan Seymour, wrote in a Sept. 16 letter that Hostin’s  “brand” of journalism is “toxic” and “moronic.” 

First, let’s take a look at what the attorneys are complaining about.

From the Sun Herald:

One of the incidents occurred July 13, when Hostin co-hosted “Behind the Table” with “The View” executive producer Brian Teta. The episode was titled “Sunlight is Really the Best Disinfectant.”

During the segment, Hostin discussed events surrounding Wells’ July 4 trip to Horn Island with a group of friends. A photo showing Pitalo, Seymour and Wells was displayed during the segment.

Hostin said there were “a lot of discrepancies” surrounding the case but said she could not discuss some details because she had learned information through conversations with civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Wells’ parents in an independent investigation into his death.

“In my view, there are a lot of inconsistencies, especially around his, Nolan’s cellphone and cellphone records and … social media profiles being erased,” Hostin said.

Hostin, who previously worked as a prosecutor, also said she found it “extremely odd” that the friends were not taken to a police department, separated and interviewed individually about what happened the day Wells went missing.

Hostin acknowledged, however, that she did not know whether that had occurred.

“I would think that those three boys would have been brought in to, um, the police department, separated in different rooms, and they would, they should be giving an account of what happened. I don’t know that that’s happened here, and that is shocking to me. That is police investigation 101. Seems to me that the police department in Mississippi immediately said that there does not appear to be foul play.”

The attorneys also accused Hostin of suggesting that their clients “were colluding to hide evidence and/or obstruct the efforts to find Nolan at the very least, and that they murdered Nolan at the very worst,” based on her discussing on the show that Wells’ parents, Elmore and Christine Wonsley, used the mobile tracking app Life360 to determine that Wells’ phone was on land, and later retrieved their son’s phone from his traveling companions, only to discover information had been deleted, according to civil attorney Ben Crump, who is representing the family.

“Your assertions are grossly disproved by the truth,” the attorneys wrote. “Your statements are negligent at the bare minimum, and your refusal to accept the facts that are publicly available constitute actual malice.”

“Neither Warren, Jax, nor Morgan breached, accessed, tampered with, or deleted any data from Nolan’s cellphone. None of them hid, concealed, nor withheld Nolan’s keys or lied about the whereabouts of Nolan’s keys. And they absolutely came forward and made numerous diligent efforts to increase the probability of locating Nolan,” they wrote.

The attorneys appear to be drawing conclusions from Hostin’s remarks that reflect statements she never made. Remarking on what she learned from the lawyer representing Wells’ family isn’t the same as claiming that information is true, and she seemed to admit in other instances that she wasn’t aware whether all the information she was discussing—as opposed to reporting, per se—was accurate. I mean, I’m not a legal expert, but I imagine they might have a tough time squeezing a viable defamation case out of that. At best, it seems Hostin might be guilty of sensationalizing the case.

Still, they are demanding that Hostin retract her statements, or else they will sue. They made a similar defamation threat against the Rev. Al Sharpton last month, after he drew national attention to the case.

They also denied in their letter that “only black kid on an island full of kids that were white,” like Hostin reportedly said, although the issue most people have brought up regarding Wells’ case is that he was the only Black person among an otherwise white friends group, not that he was the only Black person on the island.

“We now understand why, instead of seeking justice, you now work for The View, a show that long betrayed any semblance of fairness, reason, or common sense,” the lawyers added, which is rich considering their clients are out here giving exclusives to right-wing propagandists like Sunken Place enthusiast Brandon Tatum, but whatever.

It doesn’t appear that Hostin has responded to the litigation threats as of yet. Perhaps she’s less concerned with that than she is with getting an answer to the same question many of us are asking nearly three months after his death:

What happened to Nolan Wells?

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