UPenn backtracks on livestreaming Steven Crowder’s free speech event 

The University of Pennsylvania will not allow conservative commentator Steven Crowder to livestream an upcoming free speech event on campus, despite earlier indications that it would be allowed.

Crowder said he plans to livestream the event anyway. 

“I’m telling you right now … we plan to go to UPenn on Friday, April 10, and livestream,” he said. “That is what we will do.”

Crowder has spent years trying to organize a debate with professor Jonathan Zimmerman, a liberal Democrat who believes in free speech and debate. Crowder even called him “the one college professor willing to step up to debate” him. 

The Louder with Crowder host said he put significant money into making this happen, including paying for the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Philadelphia, security and making a $10,000 donation to the university.

He also said livestreaming had already been approved earlier in the process. Crowder shared emails that showed his company would provide the equipment for the broadcast.

“It was very clearly confirmation that we were going to be livestreaming – we’ve always maintained that,” Crowder said on his show.

That changed days before the event.

In an April 3 email, a campus events official told Crowder’s team the university would not allow livestreaming or merchandise sales under a revised agreement.

“Based on their revised language, we will not be able to permit the sale of merchandise or livestreaming this event,” the email said.

Crowder’s team has argued livestreaming would make the debate more transparent and prevent either side from selectively editing clips.

“That way no one can be accused of editing out of context,” one of his staffers said during a Zoom call. The staffer added both sides would still receive full copies of the event.

Crowder said he hopes the situation is the result of a miscommunication.

The event has already drawn attention on campus. Some staff members have raised concerns about having to work at it and what it could bring.

“[T]he debate could perpetuate ‘hate, bigotry, and ignorance into the world and into University of Pennsylvania students,’” one staff member told the Daily Pennsylvanian.

Another staff member said: “It feels like free speech is a Trojan horse issue to platform or amplify the voice of someone who profits from generating hate speech toward minorities.”

Colleges say they support open debate. However, when a speaker challenges the popular worldview on campus, the rules can change even after the school approves the event.

Crowder said he still plans to move forward with the livestream, setting up a direct test of how the university will respond.

(Image credit: Screenshot/Louder with Crowder)