Hasan Piker, a left-wing political commentator and Twitch streamer with 3.1 million followers, will speak on campus in an event hosted by the Students Not Bombs campaign on Sept. 24.
The free event, which sold out within hours of tickets being released, will take place from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at Sage Chapel while Piker livestreams on his Twitch channel, according to a Tuesday Instagram post.
Students Not Bombs is a coalition comprising Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace and Cornell Young Democratic Socialists of America, all of whom are urging Cornell to divest from Israel via a petition and on-campus demonstrations.
The 35-year-old socialist streamer has been active on Twitch since 2018, streaming about leftist politics, his opinions on the news and his support for progressive movements, including “ICE out of L.A.” and “No Kings” rallies. He also advocates for Palestinian liberation and shares his views criticizing the Israeli government.
Ahead of the 2024 presidential election, Piker was granted permission to livestream at the Democratic National Convention, and was invited among a group of other influencers. In an April 2025 profile, the New York Times described Piker as “A Progressive Mind in a Body Made for the ‘Manosphere.’”
During his time in the public eye, Piker has been no stranger to controversy.
Piker has been under fire for his history of strong rhetoric, including a 2019 comment that “America deserved 9/11” in reference to the U.S.’s military interventions in the Middle East — a statement he has since said was “inappropriate.”
Piker has received intensified press coverage amid a recent campaign stop alongside Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan.
Piker traveled to Michigan ahead of primary election day, when El-Sayed eventually triumphed over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-Mich.) by about 1%. Stevens criticized El-Sayed’s proximity to Piker, and other outlets have argued that it may cost Democrats the seat— especially because of Piker’s anti-Israel politics.
“People don't f*ck with Israel any longer," Piker said on a stream, according to CBS. “If Jews in America keep putting this idea out there that they are singularly invested in Israel, eventually someone's going to come around and take action, not against the state of Israel, mind you, but against American Jews." Piker argued that Jewish Americans “tying [their] entire identity to a country that inevitably will be seen as basically Jewish ISIS” is “making antisemitism worse."
El-Sayed has responded to critics, writing “nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople,” in an August statement.
When Zohran Mamdani ran for mayor of New York City in 2025, Piker endorsed the Democratic Socialists of America candidate and featured him on his stream. Piker also played Among Us with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) on his Twitch stream in 2020.
Piker was born in New Jersey and raised in Turkey, and spent most of his childhood there before moving to the U.S. as an adult. The streamer graduated from Rutgers University in 2013 after studying political science and communications and moved to the Los Angeles area to begin streaming on Twitch soon after.
The streamer has been described as the “Joe Rogan” of the left – a label which Piker has rejected.
Piker’s Sept. 24 visit to Cornell will not be the first time he has spoken at a college campus. He visited the University of Southern California in 2024, spoke to students at Dartmouth in March 2026 and debated Yale students in April 2026.
If Cornell students wish to attend the now-sold out event, they are encouraged by JSP, JVP and YDSA to join the waitlist on CampusGroups.
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.
