By admin 
Three friends who were with Nolan Xavier Wells before his death on Horn Island plan to sue Asuncion “Sunny” Hostin, an attorney and co-host of ABC’s “The View,” over comments she made about the investigation into Wells’ death.
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Mississippi attorney Tyler Cox is representing the three friends — Warren Hudson, Jax Pitalo and Morgan Seymour — along with defamation and media law attorney Edward Andrew Paltzik.
The attorneys sent Hostin a letter dated Sept. 16 announcing their plans to sue her for defamation, giving her a 10-day deadline to retract statements they contend are false or defamatory before pursuing litigation.
The attorneys sent another letter earlier to civil rights activist and Baptist minister, the Rev. Al Sharpton, to announce their plan to sue him for defamation over comments in the Wells’ case.
Wells, 18, of Ocean Springs, was reported missing July 4 after traveling with a large group of friends on one of three boats to Horn Island, about 10 miles off the Mississippi Coast, to celebrate Independence Day. Two days later, Wells’ body was found off the northwest tip of Horn Island.
His parents, Elmore and Christine Wonsley, hired civil rights attorney, Ben Crump, to do an independent investigation.
In the latest letter, Cox and Paltzik accused Hostin of defaming their clients on two occasions, despite never mentioning them by name.
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.
Wells, 18, of Ocean Springs, was reported missing July 4 after traveling with a large group of friends on one of three boats to Horn Island, about 10 miles off the Mississippi Coast, to celebrate Independence Day. Two days later, Wells’ body was found off the northwest tip of Horn Island.
His friends returned to the mainland without Wells, saying he stayed behind to talk
Cox and Paltzik said in the letter to Hostin that all three young men spoke with law enforcement, turned over their cellphones for examination and were the first to alert authorities that Wells was missing. He said they did not get separated for interviews because
The attorneys also addressed remarks Hostin made during a July 14 segment of “The View” in which she discussed the Wells case.
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Hostin said Wells was the “only black kid on an island full of kids that were white.” She then discussed the boat the friends had been on and referenced Wells’ parents’ statements that he would not have left his cellphone behind.
“It is hard to fathom the pure negligence and recklessness you have shown through your multiple interviews regarding these young men and the tragic death of their friend, Nolan Wells,” Cox and Paltzik wrote in the letter. “Your unwillingness to research the most basic facts surrounding the incident before commenting publicly is downright baffling. Moreover, as a former prosecutor, you of all people should know the importance of ‘innocent until proven guilty.’ You swore an oath with that principle in mind.” A closer look at some of Hostin’s comments included:
“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.”
Hostin also said the friends, without naming them, did not give Wells’ parents his cellphone, even though they returned from Horn Island with it after Wells stayed behind, according to the friends, to talk to a girl.
In other comments, Hostin discussed how Wells’ parents, Elmore and Christine Wonsley, used the mobile tracking app Life360 to determine that Wells’ phone was on land. Elmore Wonsley and others in a group later retrieved the phone from the friends, but Wells’ parents said some information had been deleted, according to Crump.
According to the attorneys, Hostin’s remarks suggest that the friends — Hudson, Pitalo and Seymour — “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.
“Your assertions are grossly disproved by the truth. Your statements are negligent at the bare minimum, and your refusal to accept the facts that are publicly available constitute actual malice.”
In addition, they pointed out that the trio at no time “had possession of or made any false statement regarding Nolan’s cell phone.
“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. “
The attorneys pointed out information about the three friends that was in a previous letter to Sharpton.
In addition, according to the attorneys, Wells’ phone was never turned over to authorities for a forensic examination in conjunction with the death investigation.
“Without the assistance of Warren, Jax, and Morgan, the investigation into Nolan’s whereabouts would not have started as soon as it did, and we would all be further from getting to the truth. “
The attorneys previously noted that the friends were the first to realize late on the evening of July 4 that Wells had not returned from the islands.
The attorneys have cited text messages and call logs they say show Hudson began taking action as soon as he and his friends realized Wells had not returned from the island.
This story was originally published September 16, 2026 at 6:01 PM with the headline “Attorneys demand retraction from co-host of ‘The View’ over Nolan Wells remarks.”
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