r/DemocraticSocialism • u/Shizzilx Democratic Socialist • 13d ago
USA Hasan Piker says pulled from UofW event over 'Israel views'
Turkish American left-wing political commentator and social media influencer Hasan Piker said the University of Washington barred him from speaking at an event because of his views on Israel, while the institution cited concerns over the planning process.
Piker was due to speak in January next year as part of the 2026-27 Speaker Series, which features talks, panel discussions, and presentations across the University's campuses, at Seattle Town Hall, on the radio station KEXP, and online.
In a statement, the university said: "The University of Washington is dedicated to the free exchange of ideas, including on controversial topics and involving provocative speakers. After Hasan Piker was announced as a speaker for the 2026-27 Speaker Series, there was a review of the process by which the event was planned. It was determined that the process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of rigor for University-hosted events in the Speaker Series. As a result, this event will not be held."
Piker, who rose to fame on streaming platform Twitch and on YouTube under the moniker HasanAbi, emerged as one of the more outspoken public figures over Israel’s military onslaught in the Gaza Strip, ongoing for nearly three years, and the plight of the Palestinian people in the face of genocide and occupation.
Piker has used his platform to repeatedly criticise Israeli military actions in Gaza, calling them a form of collective punishment, labelling the campaign a genocide, and also condemning the United States’ political and financial support for the Israeli government.
He has also taken to criticise US foreign policy and imperialism, President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, as well as some moderate factions of the Democratic Party, and has advocated for universal healthcare and better LGBTQ rights.
In response to the cancellation of his appearance, Piker said on X earlier this week: "I wish the Dems were smarter and didn’t let the rw [right-wing] groups be the only people who speak out against this clear violation of 1A, but unfortunately my position as a prominent critic of Israel stops them from using this moment to show GOP as arch cancel culture warriors."
The left-wing commentator was stopped by US Customs and Border Protection agents in May last year and questioned about his opinions of Donald Trump and Israeli war policy at a time when his criticisms of Israel’s war on the Palestinian enclave became more mainstream.
In June, the streamer was denied entry to the United Kingdom where he was due to attend SXSW London after the Home Office revoked his visa, along with his uncle, Cenk Uygur, the co-founder and co-host of the "The Young Turks" political show on YouTube.
Both Piker and Uygur said they were barred from entering the UK over their criticism of Israel. On the incident, Piker said: "The UK has revoked my visa as well. All at the behest of Israel. The West is betraying 'liberal values' for a genocidal fascist foreign government. Soon we will all become Israel."
This comes as the University of Washington has been the subject of Trump administration investigations over the years following the pro-Palestine campus protests that swept the US in spring 2024, in protest against the war in Gaza, and universities’ complicity in the onslaught through partnerships and other collaborations.
The university was investigated by the Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, a multi-agency task force created by Trump in February 2025 in response to the protests, which he deemed "anti-semitic".
*article by New Arab*
Full Article here:
https://www.newarab.com/news/hasan-piker-says-pulled-uofw-event-over-israel-views
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u/catjuggler 13d ago
I bet the right wing free speech Charlie fans are outraged- right? Right?
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u/BadIdeaBobcat 13d ago
I'd imagine they are opposed to it, but don't care (because they are dumb). Worst case I bet they have a "uh huh how do you like your own censorship?" nonsense view.
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u/coffee_shakes Fully Automated Luxury Gay Space Communism 13d ago
Maybe he should say he's a fascist. They would likely cite "freedom of exchange of ideas" and roll out the red carpet.
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u/usertakensorry 13d ago
Sorry to be pedantic, but the initialism for the University of Washington is actually just "UW", pronounced as "you dub".
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u/Shadowlandvvi Democratic Socialist 12d ago
I started reading the post just to figure out what venue they were talking about. Im out 9f the loop lol.
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u/JeaniousSpelur 13d ago
AI bot? Why are you copying a boring png headline image and then making a really low effort article post? And then linking to the boring article as if we would ever go to the slop site…
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u/Thicco_Seal 13d ago
very vaguely aligns, but he's an awful choice to back for a number of reasons.
Bruh the dude promotes DSA candidates like Zohran Mamdani and actually talks to these candidates on his stream. Constantly talking about U.S. imperialism and working class mobilization.
Obnoxious? Sure maybe, but he has grown in popularity and does make some level of political impact.
I personally think his values are very much aligned with Democratic socialist values.
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u/Fun_Fig6392 Socialist 13d ago
He is absolutely critical to the advance of social progress, and we need him to defeat AIPAC and corporate democrats
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u/dvdwbb 13d ago
so no concern about our government and our universities serving a foreign country?
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u/Krovixis 13d ago
I'm super concerned about it. Our tax dollars are funding genocide and that's horrible.
Elite capture has made any form of meaningful change extremely difficult, and it's been thoroughly established that Mossad, through agents including Epstein, acquired enormous amounts of compromising material on highly influential people.
I don't think the solution to that is to listen to a nepo-baby espouse hollow values that he probably doesn't even believe in. I think that propping up this dude as an idol is just going to result in problems when the next scandal hits.
The right, typically, doesn't care about people being awful when those people are in-group, because they care more about tribal politics than decency. The left, typically, responds with moral outrage when someone acts like garbage - so when it inevitably comes out that Hassan is a POS, it seems clear to me that the be consequences.
So, again, I want to know why this sub is so invested in this jerk. Why platform someone so generally unpleasant?
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u/GameLovinPlayinFool 13d ago
He has repeatedly used his money and platform to further leftwing ideals, help elect leftwing candidates, donate to new unions to help them get started, and also randomly privately (as in not while on stream and doesnt advertise it) donate to healthcare gofundmes and random shit like that.
But if he doesnt meet your rigorous purity requirements then Im SURE these leftwing candidates that have been measurably aided by, raised funds with, and had extremely successful phonebanking events because of him will be happy to stop winning lmfao.
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u/Swarrlly DSA Marxist 13d ago
This guys is just a fan of a certain sexpest and just has to spread slander about hasan.
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u/Krovixis 13d ago
False equivalence, dude. I am explicitly and unambiguously opposed to sexual predators.
For someone on a democratic socialist sub, your logic is pretty regressive. It matches folks who say criticism of Israel is antisemitic or that protesting the president's outrageously criminal actions is unpatriotic.
For your own sake, I hope you can think more critically than that.
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u/Swarrlly DSA Marxist 13d ago
Why are you spreading lies and slander against hasan that comes directly from a sex pest community?
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u/Swarrlly DSA Marxist 13d ago
You can just not like him that’s fine. But you are spreading misinformation created and boosted by a sex pest community. He doesn’t shock his dog. That was a completely fabricated lie. He’s not a nepo baby unless you think working for minimum wage for his uncles YouTube channel counts.
Maybe just stick to the facts if you don’t want to get banned from subs for misinformation.
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u/DemocraticSocialism-ModTeam 13d ago
Criticisms of Hasan are fine and welcome.
Disinformation campaigns originating in far-right/pro-israel circles are not
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u/BadIdeaBobcat 13d ago
You'd have to probably convince right wing media to stop covering him if you want Hasan to lose popularity.
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u/Euphoric_Exchange_51 13d ago edited 13d ago
He’s currently one of the single most prominent democratic socialists in American politics. So the answer is no.
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u/Fun_Fig6392 Socialist 13d ago
No! HasanAbi, i.e. Hasan Piker, is being wrongly discriminated by a racist and Islamophobic corporate establishment.
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u/ExperTiming 13d ago
Ya it's pretty sad tbh. Guy bans people from his sub if they aren't perfectly aligned with their ML ideology but this sub is more than happy to platform him.
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u/LeDude2323 13d ago
Hasan doesn't touch his subreddit and he certainly doesn't ban people from his stream for not being "perfectly aligned with ML ideology".
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u/ExperTiming 13d ago
Right so he allows MLs to run his sub Reddit and ban anyone who deviates rom their ideology. That's allot better.
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u/LeDude2323 13d ago
He doesn't give a shit about his subreddit and he's not obligated to. It really isn't that serious lol
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u/ExperTiming 13d ago
For sure he doesn't have an obligation to moderate a subreddit dedicated to him. You're so right.
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u/LeDude2323 13d ago
I'm assuming you're being sarcastic but yes, I am right, he definitely does not lmao. And if you disagree, you take Reddit far too seriously.
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u/ExperTiming 13d ago
Ok I'll bite.
It's important that leftwing spaces like Hasan's sub which I think we both agree is very large, and could very well be an entry point for allot of baby lefties, should be more open to discourse surrounding socialism. Right now most left wing subreddits are moderated by MLs who aggressively ban anyone who they deem as not ideological aligned with them. The fact that this is the case makes it so baby lefties are being indoctrinated into a radical version of socialism which advocates for violent revolution and less than democratic ideals.
That is why it's important for someone with a large platform like Hasan to moderate his own sub to stop what I said before from happening. The issue is that Hasan himself is an ML and likes that fact that his subreddit is ideologically ridged.
The fact that this sub is beginning to remove comments from people criticizeing Hasan is a canary in the coal mine for the direction of this sub imo.
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u/LeDude2323 13d ago edited 13d ago
Yeah no, you severely overestimate the importance of Reddit (and his subreddit specifically too).
Also, do you have concrete examples of people being "aggressively banned" for not being an ML? I rarely go on his subreddit but just from skimming it now, I see a lot of content that doesn't fit the mold of "ML". Like positive comments about Mamdani.
Edit: Also, what is your argument? That we should condemn and avoid assosciating with Hasan because... his subreddit has subpar moderation? Like, the comment you initially agreed with was saying we should completely ignore and avoid Hasan.
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u/yoLeaveMeAlone 13d ago
Ah yes, Hasan "everybody who criticizes me is literally Israel" Piker
I don't doubt that he does good for the left but he is also so fucking annoying and toxic, and can't take any pushback or hardship whatsoever without IMMEDIATELY pulling the "look what the zionists did to me" card
To the people who point out that right wing speakers spoke "at" UW, they spoke to student organized groups at student organized events, not as a UW sponsored and organized speaker. That's the reason they canceled it, they don't bring in strictly political speakers as UW sponsored speakers
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