June 18, 2026 12:39 PM UTC

Or Maybe It's Because Hasan Piker Is An Asshole

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post’s Elliot Wentzler reports today, a fresh controversy brewing in the acrimonious CO-01 Democratic between longtime Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette and underdog challenger Melat Kiros backed by the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) features allegations of a vast conspiracy to prevent shock-jock podcast host Hasan Piker from speaking at multiple Denver event venues last weekend:

Three Denver-area venues canceled an event over the weekend that would have featured a popular — albeit controversial — internet personality alongside two Colorado Democratic primary candidates for the U.S. House and Senate.

The venue cancellations, at least two of them said to be based on security concerns with hosting the event featuring Hasan Piker, prompted outrage by the candidates. The episode also underlined broader questions as Democrats from different factions of the party debate whether figures like Piker draw in voters or risk alienating them…

The refusal of several Denver venues to host an event starring Piker has generated speculation in local media in the days following about who may have “coordinated” this decision and why, with the story circulating that this could have been a plot by supporters of DeGette to censor a prominent critic. The original venue cancelled citing problems with their air conditioning system, but as Westword’s Hannah Metzger reports, the second two were more upfront in their assessment that an event featuring Hasan Piker posed a security risk:

Rally organizers pivoted to holding the event at the Ogden Theatre. On June 12, the Ogden canceled, as well, due to “significant pressure and concern from the local community who have reached out to our leadership,” according to emails reviewed by Westword.

“The decision was made purely from a security concern standpoint,” says a spokesperson for AEG Presents, which owns and operates the Ogden. “There was nothing more to it than that.”

Next, the rally was booked at Stanley Marketplace, according to Kiros’ campaign team. On the morning of the event, organizers say they were denied access to the venue and told the building’s ownership had decided to cancel because of safety concerns. Stanley Marketplace did not respond to a request for comment.

Hasan Piker’s popularity as an online celebrity has been significantly driven by his deliberate embrace of highly controversial positions that generate exposure principally through their audacity rather than being a thoughtful contribution to the debate. Piker has said that “America deserved 9/11,” and that the terrorist group “Hamas is a thousand times better than Israel.” Because of these and other statements that appear to condone or even endorse terrorism, Piker was barred early this month from entering the United Kingdom on the grounds that his entry would “not be conducive to the public good.”

The decision by some Democratic candidates to court Piker and appear on his podcast is itself highly controversial, with organizations like Third Way arguing that Piker’s “abominable views” are toxic to anyone he associates with. As readers know, it was on Piker’s podcast in May where Melat Kiros claimed that the killing of over 1,000 Israeli civilians during the Hamas terror attack on October 7th, 2023 was the “inevitable consequence” of that country’s own actions. Piker’s toxicity could explain why candidates he has supported have fared poorly in Democratic primaries this year, most notably in California where a host of Piker-backed far-left candidates lost their “jungle primaries.”

With all of this in mind, we return to the original question: did Diana DeGette’s campaign conspire to squelch Hasan Piker? DeGette herself emphatically says no:

Kiros’ campaign alleged, without evidence, that DeGette had applied pressure to compel the venues to cancel the event…

DeGette’s campaign denied the allegations, saying the claim was made up.

“I can’t believe I have to say this, but it’s an absolute lie that I or my campaign had anything to do with her venue cancellations,” DeGette said in a statement. “She’s free to make her own mistakes, and campaigning with an infamous anti-semite who says he ‘hates this country’ and thinks we ‘deserved 9/11’ is a big one.”

It’s been suggested that financial ties between two of the three venues who cancelled on Piker and Colorado’s billionaire Republican megadonor Phil Anschutz may have led to their decisions. We can’t claim to have been on every insider conference call that ever was, but that would be the first time we’re aware of that Anschutz has ever done a favor for one of the state’s most liberal Democrats.

But beyond that, there’s just no good reason for DeGette’s campaign to go through the effort of machinating a scheme to stop Hasan Piker from speaking. At this point, coverage of the event’s cancellation has spread farther than the event itself would have. So if the intent was truly to censor Hasan Piker, who has over 3 million podcast followers…well, that was obviously futile.

That leaves what we consider the most likely explanation, which is that these venues took a hard look at the homicidally sick shit Hasan Piker says for clicks, and decided of their own corporate volition not to co-brand with it. It’s not for us to explain why so many Democrats have made the decision to normalize a figure who has taken the kind of outrageous positions Piker has. But we do know that businesses in America, notwithstanding laws against discrimination, have the right to refuse service to anyone.

And as much as everyone loves a good conspiracy these days, it might honestly just be that simple.