From Online Streamer to Political Lightning Rod: The Ascent of Hasan Piker

Hasan Piker calls it the bus driver test: “You get on a bus and you have half a minute to clarify any online drama unfolded to the bus driver without them looking at you and going, ‘Leave the damn bus.’” The vast majority of online conversation, regardless of how heated, does not pass the test, he contends – including an incident last weekend, when a person on a Dublin street asked to take a picture with Piker, then held up a picture of his dog and shouted “Free Kaya!” Forget the bus driver; trying to explain the significance of this particular event could easily take the rest of this article.

Navigating the In-Between Zone

Piker finds himself in this liminal zone increasingly these days. Until fairly recently, the 34-year-old was known only to the digitally immersed, particularly Americans in their 20s and 30s, largely thanks to his presence on the streaming channel Twitch. But since the last presidential election, Piker has transformed into an in-demand voice in “the real world” for his analysis on the beleaguered political left, and specifically that inordinately fretted-over demographic, young men.

A Favorite Hate Figure for the Right

Unsurprisingly, this also makes Piker a prime target of the political right. To his enemies there is plenty to dislike: his outspoken political stances; his cultural background; his allegiances with left-wing politicians. But they also take issue with the fact that Piker – physically imposing and charismatic – defies typical lefty caricatures. He has leveraged his physique in shirtless magazine photoshoots or social media posts.

“To be frank, I had no clue that this is what I was going to be doing,” states Piker. “For instance, if someone were to ask me, did you ever think that you’d become a Twitch streamer? I’d be like, what is Twitch?”

It’s the morning and he’s preparing to start his daily 11am show. He typically streams live for seven or eight hours consecutively, talking off the cuff about the news, lifestyle stories, what he’s up to, playing video games, reacting to memes and media clips, and interacting with the never-ending stream of messages from viewers.

From The Young Turks to Twitch

Establishing himself on Twitch, a platform primarily for streaming video games, was a conscious decision, Piker explains. His media career began with The Young Turks, the progressive online news network. Piker’s parents are Turkish immigrants, and he grew up between New Jersey and Istanbul before majoring in political science. He eventually hosted his own show on the network in 2016 but in 2018 he decided to go solo on Twitch, to provide an alternative to what he saw as dominantly conservative, and often divisive views that infested the space.

“You can find ideological diversity amongst the gamers, amongst the developers, among the consumers, but unfortunately, the market for political expression in this arena is so heavily dominated by the right,” he notes.

The Challenge with the American Left

This is the fundamental problem with the American left in general, argues Piker: they’ve relinquished so many battlegrounds to the right. “You absolutely have to promote your ideas … but they simply completely abandoned all notion of marketing or branding.”

Piker is consistently sharply critical of recent administrations on his show, especially on foreign policy, but he is not a loyal member of the dominant center-left party. His own politics are broadly social democratic and “empathy-first”, he clarifies. “My viewpoint is actually the standard position in most of the world.”

Controversies and Criticism

One of the risks of Piker’s style of relaxed, accessible commentary is that he’ll occasionally go too far, which provides his critics ammunition. He has been temporarily banned from Twitch several times for deemed offensive content. In a highly publicized incident, in 2019, in the context of a wider critique, he made a comment about a historic attack that was seized upon by conservative media outlets. Piker later expressed regret and said the wording was inappropriate.

Similarly, Piker’s outspoken support for Palestinian rights and condemnation of certain state policies have led to accusations of prejudice, which he strongly rejects. He has also been mocked for expressing admiration for a different major global power, after a trip there.

“I have no problem getting vilified by people on the right. I relish when my enemies hate me,” he says. “It is what it is.”

Offline Consequences

The hate increasingly risks to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was detained by US border agents on his re-entry from travel abroad. They interrogated him about his views before releasing him. “I think they did it because they know who I am,” he said.

These levels of hostility help explain the “Free Kaya!” incident in Dublin. It originated from a Twitch stream where his dog, Kaya, yelped suddenly. Online conspiracy theorists swiftly concluded that Piker was mistreating the animal, igniting a meme-fueled controversy dubbed “collargate.” Even a prominent animal rights organization put out a statement. This led to the surprise encounter by a random in Dublin.

Piker took that encounter in his stride. Online, though, the encounter was edited from his live stream and disseminated with his reply edited out. “They wanted to make it look like I was devastated,” he said.

The Divide Between Digital and Offline Worlds

This illustrates the difference between the offline and online worlds, he says: “It’s very difficult to maintain a very hostile energy in the real world without coming across as hysterical and odd. Interactions on the internet create this environment where you can be as hostile as you want.”

That Dublin encounter was relatively low stakes. In the US, he admits to feeling less safe. The assassination of a right-wing commentator was a shocking example of where this online hate can end up. Piker watched the event develop in real time on his stream.

Piker continues to do real-life streams in the US. “I can’t let fear dictate my life. I’ve gotten death threats for years,” he says. Toxic one-sided fan dynamics come with the territory, he acknowledges.

The Future and Staying Grounded

Having been prescient about a recent election, how does Piker feel the next few years? “Things change quite rapidly, but if you look at the avenues where there is some semblance of hope, it’s the progressive candidates that are actually really galvanising the public,” he says. He points to the progressive “left flank”.

“We have to embrace that, because I feel like it’s a matter of critical importance at this point,” he adds. “So I will do everything in my power to try and prevent a dark alternative.”

The American left could arguably do with someone like Piker. But it seems unlikely as if Piker is interested in traditional political office. He makes occasional media guest spots, but he’s not tempted further into legacy media, he says. “Viewers is moving in my direction, and away from legacy publishers.”

But on top of that, he still enjoys it: “I find a lot of personal fulfilment in what I do.” As he’s talking, he’s got one eye on the clock. Another marathon live stream is about to begin, and he’s itching to get started.