‘I love when my adversaries hate me’: the way Hasan Piker emerged as a leading the largest figures on the US political left

Hasan Piker refers to it a simple litmus test: “You get on a bus and you have a brief moment to describe whatever online drama unfolded to the bus driver without them turning to you and going, ‘Get off the damn bus.’” Most online discourse, no matter how heated, fails the test, he argues – including an incident recently, when a person on a Dublin street asked to take a picture with Piker, then held up 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.

Navigating the In-Between Zone

Piker operates in this in-between space more and more these days. Until relatively recently, the thirty-four-year-old was known only to the digitally immersed, particularly Americans in their twenties and thirties, mostly thanks to his dominant presence on the streaming platform Twitch. But following a recent presidential election, Piker has transformed into an sought-after voice in “the real world” for his analysis on the struggling political left, and specifically that inordinately discussed demographic, young men.

A Prime Target for the Political Right

Predictably, this also makes Piker a prime villain of the political right. To his detractors there is a lot to dislike: his direct political stances; his cultural background; his associations with left-wing politicians. But they also resent the fact that Piker – physically imposing and charismatic – defies typical lefty caricatures. He has not been afraid his physique in revealing magazine spreads or social media posts.

“To be frank, I had no idea 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 late morning show. He typically broadcasts live for seven or eight hours straight, talking off the cuff about current affairs, lifestyle stories, what he’s up to, playing video games, reacting to memes and media clips, and interacting with the never-ending stream of comments from viewers.

From The Young Turks to Solo Streaming

Establishing himself on Twitch, which is primarily for livestreaming video games, was a deliberate decision, Piker explains. His media career began with The Young Turks, the progressive 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 chose to go solo on Twitch, to counterbalance what he saw as overwhelmingly conservative, and often divisive views that infested the space.

“There’s a lot of ideological diversity amongst the gamers, among the developers, among 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 fundamental problem with the American left in broad terms, argues Piker: they’ve ceded so many cultural spaces to the right. “You still have to promote your ideas … but they just completely gave up on all notion of marketing or branding.”

Piker is regularly critical of recent administrations on his show, particularly on foreign policy, but he is not a loyal member of the major center-left party. His own politics are broadly social democrat and “compassion-driven”, he explains. “My viewpoint is actually the standard position in much of the world.”

Firestorms and Criticism

One of the dangers of Piker’s style of relaxed, relatable commentary is that he’ll sometimes go too far, which gives his opponents fodder. He has been temporarily banned from Twitch several times for perceived offensive content. Most notoriously, in 2019, in the context of a broader critique, he made a comment about a historic attack that was amplified by right-wing media outlets. Piker later apologised and said the language was inappropriate.

Similarly, Piker’s vocal support for Palestinian rights and condemnation of certain government actions have led to accusations of prejudice, which he denies. He has also been mocked for expressing praise for a different major global power, after a trip there.

“I have no problem getting attacked by people on the right. I relish 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 US border agents on his re-entry from a trip. They interrogated 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 started with a Twitch stream where his dog, Kaya, made a noise suddenly. Online detractors swiftly concluded that Piker was harming the animal, sparking a online controversy dubbed “collargate.” Even a major animal rights organization put out a statement. This led to the ambush by a stranger in Dublin.

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

The Difference Between Digital and Real Worlds

This illustrates the chasm between the offline and online worlds, he says: “It’s very hard to maintain a very hostile energy in the real world without coming across as unhinged and odd. Interactions on the internet create 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 served as 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. Unhealthy parasocial relationships are part of the territory, he acknowledges.

The Future and Finding Balance

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 references the progressive “left flank”.

“We have to embrace that, because I feel like it’s a matter of life or death 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 interested in traditional political office. He makes occasional media appearances, 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 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 awaits, and he’s itching to get started.