‘I adore when my foes loathe me’: how Hasan Piker became one of the most prominent voices on the American political left

Hasan Piker refers to it an everyday benchmark: “Picture yourself on a bus and you have half a minute to describe any online drama occurred to the bus driver without them turning to you and saying, ‘Leave the fucking bus.’” The vast majority of online conversation, no matter how intense, fails the test, he contends – including an incident last weekend, when a person on a Dublin street asked to take a picture with Piker, then produced a picture of his dog and shouted “Free Kaya!” Forget the bus driver; trying to explain the significance of that specific event might well take the rest of this article.

Occupying the In-Between Space

Piker operates in this liminal zone increasingly these days. Until fairly recently, the 34-year-old was familiar primarily to the digitally immersed, especially Americans in their 20s and 30s, largely thanks to his presence on the streaming channel Twitch. But following the last presidential election, Piker has transformed into an sought-after voice in “traditional media” for his views on the beleaguered political left, and specifically that inordinately discussed demographic, young men.

A Favorite Target for the Political Right

Unsurprisingly, this also makes Piker a favorite hate figure of the political right. To his detractors there is a lot to criticize: his outspoken political views; his Turkish, Muslim background; his associations with left-wing politicians. But they also resent the fact that Piker – tall, muscular, fashionable and handsome – does not fit typical lefty caricatures. He has leveraged his appearance in shirtless magazine spreads or social media posts.

“I’ll be honest, I had no clue that this is what I was going to be doing,” states Piker. “Like, if someone were to ask me, did you imagine that you’d become a Twitch streamer? I’d be like, what is Twitch?”

It’s early and he’s getting ready to start his regular 11am show. He typically streams live for seven or eight hours consecutively, talking off the cuff about current affairs, pop culture, his personal life, playing video games, reacting to memes and media clips, and interacting with the constant stream of messages from viewers.

From The Young Turks to Twitch

Establishing himself on Twitch, which is primarily for livestreaming video games, was a conscious decision, Piker explains. His media career began with The Young Turks, the left-leaning online news network. Piker’s parents are Turkish immigrants, and he was raised between New Jersey and Istanbul before studying political science. He eventually hosted his own show on the network in 2016 but in 2018 he decided to go solo on Twitch, to counterbalance what he saw as overwhelmingly conservative, and often toxic views that infested the space.

“There’s a lot of ideological variety amongst the gamers, among the developers, amongst the consumers, but unfortunately, the market for political expression in this arena is so overwhelmingly dominated by the right,” he notes.

The Challenge with the American Left

This is the fundamental issue with the American left in broad terms, argues Piker: they’ve ceded so many cultural spaces to the right. “You still have to market your ideas … but they simply completely abandoned all notion of marketing or branding.”

Piker is consistently sharply critical of past 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 generally social democrat and “compassion-driven”, he clarifies. “My viewpoint is actually the standard position in most of the world.”

Controversies and Criticism

One of the risks of Piker’s type of informal, accessible commentary is that he’ll occasionally go too far, which gives his critics ammunition. He has been suspended from Twitch multiple times for deemed offensive content. In a highly publicized incident, in 2019, in the context of a broader critique, he made a comment about a national tragedy that was amplified by conservative media outlets. Piker later apologised and said the wording was inappropriate.

Similarly, Piker’s vocal support for Palestinian rights and condemnation of certain government actions have led to accusations of bias, which he denies. 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 love when my enemies hate me,” he says. “It is what it is.”

Offline Repercussions

The hate increasingly threatens to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was detained by American border agents on his return from a trip. They interrogated him about his political opinions before releasing him. “I think they did it because they are aware of who I am,” he said.

These levels of enmity help explain the “Free Kaya!” incident in Dublin. It started with a Twitch stream where his dog, Kaya, yelped suddenly. Online detractors swiftly concluded that Piker was harming the animal, igniting a online controversy dubbed “the collar incident.” Even a prominent animal rights organization issued a statement. This led to the ambush by a random in Dublin.

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

The Divide Between Online and Offline Worlds

This illustrates the chasm between the offline and online worlds, he says: “It’s very difficult to maintain a very negative energy in the real world without coming across as unhinged and odd. Interactions on the internet foster 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 conservative commentator served as a shocking example of where this online hate can lead. 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 over a decade,” he says. Unhealthy parasocial relationships are part of the territory, he acknowledges.

The Future and Staying Grounded

Having been accurate about the last election, how does Piker view the next few years? “The landscape shifts quite quickly, but if you look at the avenues where there is some glimmer of hope, it’s the progressive candidates that are actually truly galvanising the public,” he says. He references the progressive “left flank”.

“We have to lean into that, because I feel like it’s a matter of critical importance at this point,” he continues. “So I will do everything in my power to try and avoid a worse alternative.”

The American left could perhaps do with someone like Piker. But it seems unlikely as if Piker is tempted in traditional political office. He makes periodic 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 clearly finds it fulfilling: “I find a lot of emotional fulfilment in what I do.” As he’s talking, he’s got one eye on the clock. Another lengthy live stream is about to begin, and he’s itching to get started.