The New Yorker Festival stands at the center of a storm following its decision to invite Hasan Piker to a roundtable scheduled for next month, according to a report by the Jewish Insider. Piker, a streamer identified with the radical left in the US, has previously sparked harsh criticism due to antisemitic statements and comments justifying the October 7 attack.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published a series of sharp tweets: "Toxic and extreme rhetoric opposing Zionism and the Jewish state normalizes antisemitism, reinforces bigotry, and launders terror – and it has no place at a conference devoted to prominent influencers."
1/ The @NewYorker's decision to platform Hasan Piker is the latest example of mainstream media normalizing his brand of antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Piker's toxic and extreme rhetoric opposing Zionism and the Jewish state normalizes #antisemitism, reinforces bigotry, and… pic.twitter.com/ZvC4WIiDZH
— ADL (@ADL) September 4, 2025
The ADL added that his appearance alongside writers and cultural figures like Salman Rushdie is "particularly ironic," since Iran, which for years imposed an ongoing threat on Rushdie's life, is also the country that supports organizations like Hezbollah and the Houthis, which have received explicit admiration from Piker.
The league also mentioned that Piker "compared the Houthis to Anne Frank," called Hezbollah a "successful resistance organization," claimed that "America deserved the September 11 attacks," and even said that "it doesn't matter if rapes occurred on October 7." The ADL concluded that such declarations should permanently disqualify him from appearing at mainstream festivals.
