American director Cassie Jaye has pulled out of tonight's ABC2 TV Special Hack Live: Is Male Privilege Bullsh*t? just hours before it airs.

The maker of the documentary The Red Pill, which has been criticised for its sympathetic portrayal of the men's rights movement, appeared last week on The Project and Sunrise TV shows and later complained about "hostile and aggressive" interviews.

She also said there had been a greater backlash against her film in Australia than in any other country. Theatres have cancelled screenings and, where they've taken place, there have been protests, including a violent clash at University of Sydney in early May.

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At the time, she described this protest as an "attack on free speech".

Hack's radio program interviewed Cassie Jaye in November last year after protests at a Melbourne screening of The Red Pill.

Cassie Jaye had confirmed she would appear on Hack Live alongside feminist writer Clementine Ford, men's rights activist Adrian Johnson, professional sportsman and youth mentor Joe Williams, anti-feminist, journalist and commentator Daisy Cousens, transgender activist Nevo Zesin, as well as academics and young people with different perspectives on privilege.

She emailed Hack Live TV producers around 3:15pm today to say she was extremely apprehensive about a repeat of what happened on The Project and Sunrise.

"I already see so many warning signs of inherent bias based on the program's marketing," she wrote in the email.

"I don't see what I can gain by being a part of this when it's clear that the show is going to give selective and limited airtime to certain guests over others."

She said she didn't think any viewers would be upset by her absence.

Hack Live will be broadcast at 9:30pm AEST on ABC2 and live-streamed on the triple j and ABC2 Facebook pages.