Penn Live Arts set to host debate with conservative commentator Steven Crowder

Penn Live Arts has quietly coordinated an event featuring conservative political commentator Steven Crowder, various sources told The Daily Pennsylvanian.

The event — which has not been confirmed to the public but is currently scheduled for April 10 — is set to include a debate between Crowder and history of education professor Jonathan Zimmerman. According to PLA staff members who spoke to the DP, Crowder is in the final steps of renting out the Zellerbach Theatre, the largest theater at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts.

The debate will be moderated by College senior and former College Republicans President Mia Antonacci, followed by audience questions.

Crowder — known for his podcast “Louder with Crowder” and college campus segment titled “Change My Mind” — has faced backlash for statements critics described as racist and homophobic. He has also been accused of promoting misinformation about the 2020 presidential election.

“It’s no surprise that Crowder is kind of controversial,” Antonacci told the DP. “I think voices like that are really important.”

Requests for comment were left with PLA and a University spokesperson.

Zimmerman told the DP that he plans to participate because he believes in “engaging with people that have different views than my own.”

“I’m a liberal Democrat,” Zimmerman said. “I know that Steven Crowder isn’t, and I think it’s important that we talk across those differences.”

Wharton junior and College Republicans President Finn Broder called Crowder “great,” emphasizing the club’s values of “let[ting] the best ideas win” in an interview with the DP.

“I think that it’s super awesome and healthy for democracy and civility at Penn and beyond that you have a professor who’s left-leaning but is super eager to debate a pundit,” Broder said.

Multiple PLA staff members raised concerns about working the event in interviews with the DP and were granted anonymity due to fear of retribution.

One staffer told the DP that they worry that the debate could perpetuate “hate, bigotry, and ignorance into the world and into University of Pennsylvania students.”

“Most of our concerns come from not only the content that people working will have to hear and endure, but also the audience that it will bring and what could happen before the event or what could happen after the event,” the staff member said.

Another staff member wrote in a statement to the DP that they “do not operate under the illusion that UPenn values free speech across the board.”

“It feels like free speech is a trojan horse issue to platform / amplify the voice someone who profits from generating hate speech towards minorities,” they wrote about the event.

The member made reference to the “diverse” and “inclusive” nature of the staff, mentioning that learning about the event was “startling.” They expressed a desire for more communication with PLA employees and the campus community.

“This is obviously a very tense, loaded time, but it also directly impacts people’s safety,” they told the DP. “In that sense, I think over communicating is the best approach.”

A separate PLA staffer expressed hope for the organization to “make the environment welcoming for everybody” through a security checking process at the event. 

Broder explained that he and Antonacci coordinated the event with the Division of Public Safety and the Office of Student Affairs. He noted that Crowder had a list of preferences, including that the debate be recorded and that there would be “a lot of people.”

“He wants to broaden his reach as much as possible,” Broder said. “DPS and OSA sat down, and we just talked about the different ways in which the event could proceed.”

One staff member noted that PLA’s “front of house” is doing their own risk assessment and has action plans involved.

According to the staff member, the event is still in coordination and not yet confirmed because it has “a very large price bill to it” and is “not done being invoiced.” Confirmation can happen anytime from eight months to 72 hours in advance of a rental event.

“To my understanding, they still have to figure out security for it,” the PLA staff member said. “That will be another large number added to the invoice.”

“Because security hasn’t been figured out, there’s actually still a chance that whoever is negotiating this on Steven Crowder’s behalf will decide that it is too much and pull it,” they added.

When PLA staff members raised concerns about the debate to management, they were met with responses about “the First Amendment and free speech,” according to one of the staff with knowledge of the event.

“It was kind of met with like, ‘well, we have no choice, and we won’t force you to work it,’” one staff member said. “So people just have to make their own choices.”

Going forward, one staff member expressed a desire for “more transparency with their staff and empathy with the positions that they’re putting some of them in” from PLA.

Antonacci emphasized her desire to provide the audience with “the opportunity to really listen and learn and at least try to understand where the other side is coming from,” citing “a lack of understanding” as the reason for political polarization.

“I believe that bringing speakers like this allows people to derive their own opinions,” Antonacci said. “We’re not telling you to come here and believe 120% of everything Crowder says, then leave and be a die-hard, cold-blooded MAGA Republican.”

Zimmerman similarly stated his hope for audience members to take away “more knowledge about some current day issues on free speech, more awareness about its complexities, more empathy for people that they disagree with, and more curiosity about other things to know.”

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