Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker is slated to speak on the UT campus Wednesday despite calls for the event to be cancelled. (Gabriel C. Pérez | KUT News)
Controversial Twitch streamer and self-described socialist Hasan Piker is set to speak at UT Austin Wednesday at an event hosted by UT’s University Democrats.
The event was nearly derailed after organizers say they received more than 3,000 RSVPs, leaving them scrambling for weeks to find a larger venue. The capacity of the William C. Powers, Jr. Student Activity Center, where Piker is slated to speak, is around 460.
Adit Raha, president of the University Democrats, said UT didn’t accommodate requests to host Piker at a larger on-campus space like the Union Ballroom or Gregory Gym.
“We wanted a more secure venue than the one we were given, or that we got,” he said. “At each kind of attempt, we were hit with a mysterious and sometimes questionable roadblock.”
Raha also criticized the University of Texas Police Department for charging University Democrats $20,000 for providing event security, despite its relatively small footprint.
UT and UTPD did not respond to requests for comment.
Piker’s appearance has been decried by state lawmakers, including Gov. Greg Abbott, who said the student group was platforming Piker’s “disgusting rhetoric.”
Ahead of the event, Jewish group Texas Hillel said the influencer’s harsh criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza is antisemitic. Rabbi Stephanie Max, executive director of Texas Hillel, said Piker’s views “go against our values as Americans and Jews, and his hateful, antisemitic rhetoric is repulsive.”
Right-leaning student groups told the Daily Texan they plan on protesting the event.
Piker told the Austin American-Statesman that he thinks his views on Israel are “very close to many in the student body” and that pushback against his appearance was “disappointing but not unexpected.”
Raha criticized the university for, as he sees it, obstructing Piker’s appearance while welcoming far-right influencer Ben Shapiro at a larger venue next week. He said the disparity is an extension of UT’s crackdown on large-scale pro-Palestinian demonstrations in 2024.
“Free speech is dead in Texas,” Raha said.