Hasan Piker refers to it an everyday benchmark: “You get on a bus and you have half a minute to describe any online drama unfolded to the bus driver without them looking at you and going, ‘Leave the fucking bus.’” The vast majority of online conversation, no matter how heated, fails the test, he says – not least 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; attempting to explain the meaning of that specific event might well take the remainder of this article.
Occupying the Blurred Zone
Piker increasingly exists in this gray area more and more these days. Until fairly recently, the 34-year-old was familiar primarily to the very online, especially Americans in their 20s and 30s, largely thanks to his presence on the streaming channel Twitch. But since the last presidential election, Piker has become an sought-after voice in “traditional media” for his views on the struggling political left, and specifically that inordinately fretted-over demographic, young men.
A Prime Target for the Right
Predictably, this also positions Piker a favorite hate figure of the political right. To his detractors there is plenty to criticize: his outspoken political stances; 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 caricatures. He has leveraged his physique in shirtless magazine photoshoots or social media posts.
“I’ll be honest, I had no idea that this is what I was going to be doing,” says 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 getting ready to start his daily 11am show. He usually broadcasts live for seven or eight hours consecutively, talking improvised about the news, 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
Establishing himself on Twitch, a platform primarily for livestreaming video games, was a conscious decision, Piker explains. His media career started out with The Young Turks, the left-leaning online news network. His 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 overwhelmingly conservative, and often divisive views that permeated the space.
“There’s a lot of ideological diversity amongst the gamers, amongst the developers, amongst the consumers, but unfortunately, the market for political commentary in this arena is so overwhelmingly dominated by the right,” he says.
The Challenge with the American Left
This is the core issue with the American left in general, says Piker: they’ve ceded so many arenas to the right. “You still have to promote your ideas … but they simply completely abandoned all notion of marketing or branding.”
Piker is regularly sharply critical of past administrations on his show, especially on foreign policy, but he is no loyal supporter of the dominant center-left party. His own politics are broadly social democratic and “compassion-driven”, he explains. “My position is actually the standard position in most of the world.”
Controversies and Backlash
One of the risks of Piker’s type of informal, relatable commentary is that he’ll occasionally go too far, which gives his critics fodder. He has been temporarily banned from Twitch several times for perceived offensive content. Most notoriously, in 2019, in the context of a wider critique, he made a comment about a national tragedy that was seized upon by right-wing media outlets. Piker later expressed regret and said the wording was inappropriate.
Likewise, Piker’s outspoken support for Palestinians and criticism of certain government actions have led to accusations of bias, which he strongly rejects. He has also been mocked for expressing praise 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 threatens to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was questioned by American border agents on his return from travel abroad. They questioned him about his political opinions 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 conspiracy theorists jumped to the conclusion that Piker was harming the animal, igniting a online controversy dubbed “the collar incident.” Even a major 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 shocked,” he said.
The Divide Between Online and Real Worlds
This highlights the difference between the offline and online worlds, he explains: “It’s very hard to maintain a very negative energy in the real world without coming across as hysterical and odd. Interactions on the internet foster this environment where you can be as aggressive as you want.”
That Dublin encounter was relatively low stakes. In the US, he feels less safe. The fatal shooting 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 still 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 one-sided fan dynamics come with the territory, he accepts.
Looking Ahead and Finding Balance
Having been accurate about the last election, how does Piker feel the next few years? “The landscape shifts quite rapidly, but if you look at the areas where there is some glimmer of hope, it’s the left 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 everything in my power to try and avoid a worse 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 drawn further into traditional media, he says. “The audience is moving in my direction, and away from legacy publishers.”
But on top of that, he still 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 marathon live stream is about to begin, and he’s eager to get started.
