Political streamer Hasan Piker says University of Washington canceled speaking event because of views on Israel

Joseph O’Sullivan, The Seattle Times on Aug 13, 2026

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SEATTLE — The University of Washington canceled a planned speech by Hasan Piker, saying the popular and controversial far-left streamer was disinvited from a speaker series after questions about the internal process for selecting speakers.

“It was determined that that the process for organizing this event did not meet the necessary level of rigor for University-hosted events in the Speaker Series,” the university said in a news statement. “As a result, this event will not be held.”

Piker is a strident critic of Israel’s policy and attacks on Palestinians, which he considers to be genocide. In May 2025, Piker said he was questioned by federal officials at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport regarding his political views.

In a post Tuesday retweeting a Fox News story on his canceled event at UW, Piker said he believed the school made the call because of his views on Israel.

“i wish the dems were smarter & didn’t let the (right-wing) groups be the only people who speak out against this clear violation of (the First Amendment) but unfortunately my position as a prominent critic of israel stops them from using this moment to show gop as arch cancel culture warriors,” Piker wrote in the post.

In a series of emails, UW spokesperson Victor Balta wrote that the Office of Public Lectures had an informal agreement to bring Piker to speak, but ultimately it had not sent a speaking contract.

That office is both the entity that scheduled Piker and the one to make the decision to cancel the event, Balta wrote.

That hadn’t prevented the university from putting out a news release announcing Piker’s scheduled appearance for Jan. 21, 2027. The university also put his face on a flyer with those of other speakers in the UW-sanctioned series. Other events range from “Science, Climate, and the Future of Food” with a UC Davis geneticist Pamela Ronald and “How Digital Storytelling Shapes Power, Politics, and Public Opinion” from Camille Zapata, digital director for California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Inquiries seeking comment to Piker’s Instagram account and an email listed for his business work were not returned.

Piker has made many controversial statements over the years, such as “America deserved 9/11” — which he later called a “dumb” oversimplification of his beliefs. Recently, Piker has been campaigning alongside Abdul El-Sayed, the Michigan candidate for the U.S. Senate.

The canceled event comes as the Trump administration investigates UW over its “handling of antisemitism,” citing a protest group that the university has said isn’t affiliated with the institution.

In a post on X in January, Piker said, “as a lesser evil voter i will once against repeat my harm reductionist credo! hamas is a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state …”

Months ago, UW suspended 21 students accused of occupying a new engineering building to protest the university’s ties to Boeing, a major weapons supplier to Israel. Protesters also demanded the university stop a “targeted assault” on pro-Palestinian activism.

In an email, Balta said that there are other opportunities for speakers to come to campus, aside from UW’s official Speaker Series.

“Registered Student Organizations and faculty members, on the other hand, do invite guest speakers and those events — of which there are many past examples — are very different from one sponsored by the University itself.

“There have been many speakers at such events in the past who expressed views that were found offensive by some members of our community but who were allowed to appear, even when the UW had to bear the cost of increased security to protect their right to speak,” he wrote.