From Digital Streamer to Political Figurehead: The Ascent of Hasan Piker

Hasan Piker refers to it an everyday benchmark: “Picture yourself on a bus and you have 30 seconds to clarify whatever online drama took place to the bus driver before them turning to you and going, ‘Get off the damn bus.’” The vast majority of online debate, regardless of how intense, does not pass the test, he argues – not least 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 yelled “Free Kaya!” Forget the bus driver; trying to explain the significance of this particular event might well take the remainder of this article.

Existing in the Blurred Zone

Piker operates in this gray area more and more these days. Until relatively recently, the 34-year-old was familiar only to the very online, especially Americans in their twenties and thirties, largely thanks to his dominant presence on the streaming platform Twitch. But since a recent presidential election, Piker has become an in-demand voice in “offline circles” for his analysis on the struggling political left, and specifically that constantly discussed demographic, young men.

A Favorite Hate Figure for the Political Right

Predictably, this also positions Piker a prime villain of the political right. To his enemies there is a lot to dislike: his direct political views; his Turkish, Muslim background; his allegiances with progressive politicians. But they also take issue with the fact that Piker – physically imposing and charismatic – defies typical lefty stereotypes. He has leveraged his appearance in revealing magazine spreads or social media posts.

“I’ll be honest, I had no idea that this is what I was going to be doing,” says Piker. “Like, 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 early and he’s getting ready to start his regular 11am show. He usually broadcasts live for seven to eight hours consecutively, talking off the cuff about current affairs, pop culture, what he’s up to, playing video games, engaging with memes and media clips, and interacting with the never-ending stream of messages from viewers.

Beginning at The Young Turks to Twitch

Building himself on Twitch, which is primarily for streaming video games, was a conscious decision, Piker says. His media career started out 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 permeated the space.

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

The Challenge with the American Left

This is the core issue with the American left in broad terms, argues Piker: they’ve ceded so many cultural spaces to the right. “You absolutely have to market your ideas … but they just 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 no loyal member of the major center-left party. His own politics are generally social democrat and “compassion-driven”, he explains. “My position is actually the normal position in much of the world.”

Firestorms and Criticism

One of the dangers of Piker’s style of relaxed, accessible commentary is that he’ll occasionally go too far, which gives his critics fodder. He has been temporarily banned from Twitch multiple times for deemed offensive content. Most notoriously, in 2019, in the framework of a broader critique, he made a statement 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 criticism of certain state policies have led to allegations of bias, which he denies. He has also been mocked for expressing admiration for another 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 states. “It is what it is.”

Real-World Repercussions

The vitriol increasingly risks to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was detained by American border agents on his return from travel abroad. They questioned him about his views before letting him go. “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, made a noise suddenly. Online detractors jumped to the conclusion that Piker was mistreating the animal, sparking a meme-fueled controversy dubbed “the collar incident.” Even a prominent animal rights organization put out a statement. This led to the surprise encounter by a stranger in Dublin.

Piker handled the situation 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 Online and Offline Worlds

This illustrates the difference between the offline and online worlds, he explains: “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 aggressive as you want.”

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

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

The Future and Staying Grounded

Having been accurate about a recent election, how does Piker view the next few years? “Things change 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 points to 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 adds. “So I will do anything in my power to try and prevent a dark alternative.”

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

And on top of that, he clearly enjoys it: “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 awaits, and he’s eager to get started.