‘I adore when my foes loathe me’: how Hasan Piker emerged as one of the biggest voices on the American left

Hasan Piker refers to it an everyday benchmark: “You get on a bus and you have half a minute to clarify any online drama took place to the bus driver before them looking at you and going, ‘Get off the fucking bus.’” Most online discourse, no matter how intense, does not pass the test, he argues – including a strange event recently, when someone 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 significance of this particular event might well take the rest of this article.

Existing in the Gray Zone

Piker increasingly exists in this gray area more and more these days. Until relatively recently, the thirty-four-year-old was known only to the digitally immersed, especially Americans in their 20s and 30s, largely thanks to his dominant presence on the streaming channel Twitch. But since a recent presidential election, Piker has become an sought-after voice in “offline circles” for his analysis on the beleaguered political left, and specifically that inordinately fretted-over demographic, young men.

A Prime Target for the Political Right

Unsurprisingly, this also positions Piker a favorite target of the political right. To his enemies there is plenty to criticize: his blunt political stances; his cultural background; his allegiances with left-wing politicians. But they also resent the fact that Piker – tall, muscular, fashionable and handsome – defies stereotypical 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,” 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 the morning and he’s getting ready to start his regular late morning show. He usually streams live for seven or eight hours straight, talking unscripted about current affairs, lifestyle stories, what he’s up to, playing video games, reacting to memes and media clips, and responding to the constant stream of messages from viewers.

From The Young Turks to Twitch

Building himself on Twitch, a platform primarily for streaming video games, was a deliberate decision, Piker explains. His media career began with The Young Turks, the left-leaning online news network. His 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 provide an alternative to what he saw as overwhelmingly conservative, and often toxic views that infested the space.

“You can find ideological diversity amongst the gamers, among the developers, among the consumers, but unfortunately, the market for political expression in this hobby is so heavily dominated by the right,” he says.

The Challenge with the American Left

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

Piker is regularly critical of past 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 generally social democratic and “compassion-driven”, he explains. “My position is actually the standard position in much of the world.”

Firestorms and Backlash

One of the risks of Piker’s type of informal, accessible 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. In a highly publicized incident, in 2019, in the framework of a wider critique, he made a statement about a national tragedy that was seized upon 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 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 states. “It is what it is.”

Real-World Repercussions

The vitriol constantly 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 political opinions before releasing him. “I think they did it because they are aware of 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, yelped suddenly. Online conspiracy theorists swiftly concluded that Piker was mistreating the animal, igniting a online controversy dubbed “collargate.” Even a major animal rights organization put out 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 Difference Between Online and Offline Worlds

This illustrates the difference between the offline and online worlds, he says: “It’s very hard to maintain a very hostile energy in the real world and not coming across as hysterical and odd. Exchanges on the internet create 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 dictate my life. I’ve gotten death threats for over a decade,” he says. Unhealthy parasocial relationships come with the territory, he acknowledges.

The Future and Staying Grounded

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 glimmer of hope, it’s the left candidates that are actually really galvanising the public,” he says. He points to the progressive “wing”.

“We have to embrace that, because I feel like it’s a matter of life or death at this point,” he adds. “So I will do anything 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 traditional political office. He makes periodic media appearances, but he’s not tempted further into traditional 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 eager to get started.