‘I relish when my enemies despise me’: the way Hasan Piker emerged as a leading the most prominent voices on the US left

Hasan Piker refers to it an everyday benchmark: “Picture yourself on a bus and you have 30 seconds to explain whatever online phenomena took place to the bus driver without them turning to you and going, ‘Get off the damn bus.’” The vast majority of online debate, regardless of how intense, fails the test, he says – not least a strange event last weekend, when someone on a Dublin street requested 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 importance of this particular event might well take the rest of this article.

Existing in the Gray Zone

Piker operates in this in-between space increasingly these days. Until relatively recently, the thirty-four-year-old was known primarily to the digitally immersed, especially Americans in their 20s and 30s, largely thanks to his presence on the streaming platform Twitch. But following a recent presidential election, Piker has transformed into an in-demand voice in “offline circles” for his perspectives on the beleaguered political left, and especially that inordinately fretted-over demographic, young men.

A Favorite Target for the Political Right

Unsurprisingly, this also makes Piker a favorite target of the political right. To his c critics there is plenty to dislike: his outspoken political stances; his Turkish, Muslim background; his associations with left-wing 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 shirtless magazine spreads or social media posts.

“To be frank, I had no clue that this is what I was going to be doing,” says Piker. “For instance, 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 daily late morning show. He typically broadcasts live for seven or eight hours consecutively, talking improvised about current affairs, lifestyle stories, his personal life, 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, which is primarily for streaming 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 graduated to his own show on the network in 2016 but in 2018 he chose to go solo on Twitch, to counterbalance what he saw as dominantly conservative, and often toxic views that permeated the space.

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

The Challenge with the American Left

This is the fundamental issue with the American left in broad terms, says Piker: they’ve relinquished so many battlegrounds to the right. “You absolutely have to promote your ideas … but they just completely gave up on all notion of marketing or branding.”

Piker is regularly 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 “empathy-first”, he explains. “My viewpoint is actually the standard position in much of the world.”

Firestorms and Criticism

One of the risks of Piker’s type of relaxed, relatable commentary is that he’ll sometimes go too far, which provides his opponents ammunition. He has been temporarily banned from Twitch several times for deemed offensive content. Most notoriously, in 2019, in the framework of a broader critique, he made a statement about a historic attack that was amplified by right-wing media outlets. Piker later apologised and said the language was ill-chosen.

Likewise, Piker’s outspoken support for Palestinians and criticism of certain state policies have led to allegations of bias, which he denies. He has also been ridiculed for expressing praise for a different major global power, after a trip there.

“I have no issues getting attacked by people on the right. I love when my enemies hate me,” he states. “It is what it is.”

Offline Consequences

The hate constantly threatens to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was detained by American border agents on his return 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, made a noise suddenly. Online conspiracy theorists swiftly concluded that Piker was mistreating the animal, igniting a meme-fueled controversy dubbed “the collar incident.” Even a major animal rights organization issued a statement. This led to the surprise encounter by a stranger in Dublin.

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

The Difference Between Online and Real Worlds

This highlights the chasm between the offline and online worlds, he says: “It’s very hard to maintain a very negative energy in the real world and not coming across as unhinged and odd. Exchanges on the internet foster this environment where you can be as hostile 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 harrowing example of where this online hate can lead. Piker watched the event unfold in real time on his stream.

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

Looking Ahead and Staying Grounded

Having been accurate about a recent election, how does Piker feel the next few years? “The landscape shifts quite rapidly, but if you look at the avenues where there is some semblance 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 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 worse alternative.”

The American left could perhaps do with someone like Piker. But it doesn’t sound as if Piker is interested in mainstream political office. He makes occasional media guest spots, but he’s not drawn further into legacy media, he says. “The audience is moving in my direction, and away from traditional 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.