'The View' co-host Sunny Hostin is ‘sickened’ by college admissions cheating scam

“The View” co-host and three-sport-athlete mom Sunny Hostin expressed why she was especially offended by the nationwide college admissions cheating scandal that federal officials are calling the biggest college cheating scam the U.S. Department of Justice has ever prosecuted.

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On Wednesday, “The View” co-hosts weighed in on “Operation Varsity Blues” college admissions scam where the FBI charged 33 parents – including TV actresses Lori Loughlin and Felicity Huffman – with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in an effort to get their children admitted into elite colleges.

As a mother of two teenagers who participate in a number of extra-curricular activities outside of school, Hostin was outspoken during the conversation.

“How mediocre must you be if you have to game a system that disproportionately advantages you anyway?” Hostin questioned.

“You must really be mediocre if you have to game that system because you got all of the advantages of that system anyway… you can pay for the best,” she added.

Hostin was quick to note that charitable donations have been used in the past to potentially assist prospective college students’ admittance, but the college cheating scam – which is the largest in the country – is vastly different.

“We know that families that donate a wing to a building or donate a library. Well that sometimes inures to the benefit of everyone,” Hostin said. “But this is fraud.”

“This is somebody taking the exam for your kid. This is very, very different, and that sickened me,” she said.

The part of the scandal involving athletics particularly resonated with Hostin. Her children, Gabriel and Paloma, are heavily involved in sports.

According to the indictment announced on Tuesday, Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, “agreed to pay bribes totaling $500,000 in exchange for having their two daughters designated as recruits to the USC crew team — despite the fact that they did not participate in crew – thereby facilitating their admission to USC.”

The owner of the college counseling service Key Worldwide Foundation, William “Rick” Singer, is the alleged mastermind behind the college admissions scam, authorities said. One of Singer’s schemes, according to the indictment, was to either stage or edit photos of prospective students participating in sports.

Hostin reacted to the allegedly fake athletic displays, saying, “I’m a Mom that has seen him sitting in the Epsom salt all night. I’ve been the Mom that wakes him up at four o’ clock in the morning because he’s going to swim practice… when his friends are still in bed. I’ve been the Mom where he’s got to leave our summer vacation because he’s got pre-season football.”

“And these kids’ parents are super-imposing their kid’s faces onto my kid’s face? That’s ridiculous!” she said.

Huffman was arrested on Tuesday at her home in Los Angeles. She was released from custody later that evening after the judge approved her $250,000 bond.

Loughlin flew to Los Angeles from Canada on Wednesday and was later taken into custody by the FBI.

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source: abcnews.go.com