Following a week of backlash from student organizations, conservative news outlets and prominent political figures, including President Donald Trump ally Laura Loomer, leftist political commentator Hasan Piker spoke to a crowd of 450 students at Sage Chapel on Thursday.
Hosted by the Students Not Bombs campaign, Piker discussed “the end of Zionism” and reflected on the rising popularity of the progressive movement ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.
Piker streamed the event live on his Twitch channel for his 3.1 million followers, with 26K viewers watching minutes before Piker took the stage. His appearance was broken into a speech and then a Q&A period.
Before appearing at Sage Chapel, Piker livestreamed and criticized Cornell’s administration for its response to the alleged gang rape at the Chi Phi house and for expelling students and professors for protesting, in reference to the suspensions of four student protestors and criticism of Prof. Russell Rickford.
The leftist streamer’s campus visit drew disapproval from many parties, due to his history of controversial statements — including his “America deserved 9/11” comment, criticism of the Israeli and American governments and inflammatory rhetoric regarding Jewish people.
Piker responded to his critics during his speech — from Cornellians for Israel’s Instagram statement to Cornell Law Prof. William Jacobson on Fox News to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations General Assembly.
The event was open to Cornell community members with tickets, had a strict no bag policy and enforced tight security measures. Cornell University Police Department officers stood at each entrance and exit of the chapel, and attendees were required to swipe their Cornell IDs and be scanned by metal detectors upon entry.
The Speech
Assistant Dean of Students Michelle Guinyard opened the event to remind students of the Expressive Activity Policy. She informed the audience that any violation of the policy would result in a warning, and then expulsion from the event.
“Cornell values free and open inquiry and expression and strives to create a community where diverse opinions can be expressed and heard,“ Guinyard said.
Following Guinyard, Adriana Vink ’27, co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine and Sun opinion columnist, explained the purpose of the Students Not Bombs campaign as a QR code with its petition was passed through the audience.
Students Not Bombs is a coalition of student organizations comprising Jewish Voice for Peace, Students for Justice in Palestine and Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America, urging Cornell to divest from Israel via a petition and on-campus demonstrations.
Applause and cheers echoed through the chapel as Piker took the stage, surprising even the streamer himself.
“That was a much warmer reception than I thought I was going to get today,” Piker said. “Especially considering the media frenzy around my appearance on Cornell’s campus.”
Ahead of Piker’s visit, Fox News interviewed Cornell Law Prof. William Jacobson, who described Piker’s appearance as a “campaign of intimidation” and Piker himself as “incendiary.”
In reference to Jacobson’s comments, Piker said “[Jacobson] said this would be akin to a Nazi rally, which is insane, and he said it on Fox News, which is the Nazi network.”
Piker also acknowledged that Cornellians for Israel condemned his visit. Piker critiqued CFI’s argument that his “America deserved 9/11” comment encouraged violence, and contrasted it to the group inviting an Israel Defense soldier to campus last spring.
“You can’t, on the one hand, say words are violence, and then bring a trigger man of Benjamin Netanyahu to a college campus,” Piker said. “What message does that send to the student body?”
Piker said he came to Cornell to discuss what he described as “a new political reality” that is “shaping all around us,” which he said will give rise to “radical political opportunities.”
He pointed to recent successes of several Democratic Socialists of America candidates who secured their Democratic primaries – Melat Kiros, Darializa Avila Chevalier and Claire Valdez – and New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Piker said their constituency is in “the moral majority.”
“There are more good, decent people with moral conviction who find it unfathomable that the wealthiest nation on earth chooses to spend its billions on blowing up schools overseas rather than building schools in our neighborhoods,” Piker said.
Piker also claimed he has noticed a shift in voters’ attitudes towards the traditional two-party system.
“They [are] saying no more to Trumpism. They [are] also saying no more to do-nothing-Democrats,” Piker said. “That’s when I realized it’s time to seize control over the system a little bit more, and get people elected in positions of power.”
Several prominent DSA politicians have been endorsed by and featured on Piker’s streams, including Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan Abdul El-Sayed, New York mayor Zohran Mamdani and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.).
Netanyahu condemned Piker in his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Thursday. While criticizing Mamdani, Netanyahu added that, “[Mamdani] counts as friends people like Hasan Piker, who said America deserved 9/11. Some friends you have.”
Piker rebutted this criticism in his speech, pointing to a Sept. 12, 2001 New York Times interview where Netanyahu referred to 9/11 as “very good” for U.S.-Israel relations.
Piker claimed the “pushback” to his speech at Cornell and other college campuses is out of fear.
“[They] are most afraid of popular action. They’re afraid of democracy. They’re afraid of all of us. They’re afraid of the people,” Piker said.
The Q&A
The event then switched to a Q&A, moderated by Vink, who began by asking: “Why do you think that you, as an individual, have been receiving so many attacks from the political mainstream on both sides?”
Piker answered by critiquing traditional media for avoiding criticism of Israel but “demand[ing] the silencing, cancelation and deplatforming of all who oppose [Israel’s] violence.”
“Israel enjoyed tremendous support from both parties and from mainstream media for almost 80 years of its entire existence, and that’s now changing,” Piker said. “It’s changing as a direct consequence of Israel's actions in Gaza, heinous war crimes that many of you have seen and can never unsee.”
He argued that this change would soon lead to “the end of Zionism," referencing a claim originally made by Israeli historian Ilan Pappé.
“I don't think [Pappé is] being too hopeful when he says that, I think that is a reality,” Piker said, adding that Israel supporters keep using “the old ways of defending Israel,” which are limited to “calling its opponents antisemitic.”
Vink also raised that Cornell Career Services has hosted job opportunities with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to which Piker responded: “If you got a Cornell education and then you f*cking work at ICE, holy sh*t, you're a loser … you gotta be extra racist at that point.”
Hasan Piker had a Q&A segment, moderated by Adriana Vink '27, co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine, following his speech.
The streamer was also asked by Vink to elaborate on his experience in Cuba, where Piker traveled in March 2026 on a humanitarian aid trip.
“I saw such devastating poverty, and it was man-made,” Piker described. He argued that while Republicans or the American government may claim that poverty was a “byproduct of communism,” it was actually the result of the actions of the American government.
The humanitarian mission, named the Nuestra América Convoy, was subject to public scrutiny as a result of some members, including Piker, staying at a hotel that was able to maintain power via a generator while the rest of the island suffered from the blackout. The blackouts in Cuba have been further exacerbated by a U.S. energy blockade of the island, according to NPR.
In his closing remarks, Piker encouraged the audience to get politically active, stating, “if it didn’t work, then they wouldn’t try to stop you from doing it.”
“Maintain solidarity and maintain revolutionary optimism always, and we will win,” Piker concluded.
Vink then led the crowd in a chant: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” in which Piker and the audience joined in as the event came to a close.
Student’s Reactions
Second-year MPA student Nathaniel Favors told The Sun that he has been a fan of Piker’s since 2018, but said he was surprised that the University would allow Piker to speak on campus.
Not all students that attended the event agreed with Piker, including Yehoshua Graham ’30.
“I don’t hate Hasan … but I really disagree with a lot of his takes,” Graham told The Sun, noting that Piker has made “rape jokes” and uses “violent rhetoric” when talking about Israel.
“He is not the leader that the American people or Cornell needs to actually support things like pro-Palestine,” an issue that Graham himself supported, he said.
Graham added that he was not surprised by Piker’s speech, noting that the streamer is usually more “expressive” when he streams.
For some students, like Favors, Piker’s visit was symbolic of a future including positive political change.
“I think this visit to campus in general, it’s like a bright spot in a whole slew of negativity,” Favors said. “It’s like, okay, there’s a possibility for a good future.”
Nathan Cho ’30, a member of Cornell Republicans, told The Sun that he disagreed with Piker’s stance on Cuba. Cho described that the Cuban government “oppresses its citizens every single day under true socialist fashion.”
Vink told The Sun she hopes Piker’s speech will inspire action in students.
“I’m really hoping that people who were brought to the event today by Hasan’s celebrity also get involved on campus,” Vink said. “That was our goal in hosting this event as the Students Not Bombs campaign, is to get people excited and organized.”
Piker’s visit to campus comes just days before other notable progressives are set to come to Ithaca.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is set to speak downtown at a town hall titled “Students vs. Billionaires” on Sunday. Former U.S. Representative Beto O'Rourke will be hosted by Cornell Political Union on Friday in a discussion titled “How We Build a Democracy Worth Saving.”
Prior to Piker’s Arrival
Piker’s visit to Cornell was first announced on Sept. 15, leading to public condemnations of his invitation and character in the week leading up to his campus appearance.
Republican candidate Peter Oberacker, who is currently challenging Rep. Josh Riley (D-N.Y.) for New York’s 19th congressional district, wrote in a Tuesday X post that he was “absolutely disgusted by Cornell University’s decision” to host Piker, that the streamer was “vile” and antisemitic and called upon other elected officials to condemn the University’s decision.
Republican National Committee spokesperson Kristen Cianci further disapproved of Piker’s visit in a statement to The Sun.
“Hasan Piker is the scum of the earth, and it shouldn’t be a profile in courage to condemn him. Josh Riley is a cowardly sycophant so beholden to the radical left that he’d rather cosign Piker’s violent, anti-American, pro-terrorist positions than risk losing power,” Cianci wrote to The Sun.
Both Cho and Graham told The Sun that they felt it was important for Cornell to continue to host “extremist” speakers, like Piker and the IDF soldier, in order to foster diverse perspectives.
“If we don’t allow people from diverse perspectives, we’re just going to enter into rabbit holes,” Graham added. “And it’s going to make every single person much more radical and much more adversarial in how they speak to people from different political perspectives.”
“I think that anyone should come on campus, no matter how controversial their takes are,” Cho said. “When we stop talking, violence is gonna happen.”
Mary Caitlin Cronin is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is a news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at mcronin@cornellsun.com.
Giselle Redmond is a member of the Class of 2028 in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. She is an assistant news editor for the 144th Editorial Board and can be reached at gredmond@cornellsun.com.
