‘I relish when my foes despise me’: the way Hasan Piker emerged as one of the largest personalities on the US political left

Hasan Piker refers to it the bus driver test: “You get on a bus and you have a brief moment to describe whatever online phenomena occurred to the bus driver before them looking at you and going, ‘Leave the fucking bus.’” Most online discourse, no matter how intense, does not pass the test, he argues – not least a strange event last weekend, when a person on a Dublin street requested to take a picture with Piker, then produced a picture of his dog and yelled “Free Kaya!” Never mind the bus driver; attempting to explain the significance of that specific event might well take the rest of this article.

Existing in the In-Between Space

Piker finds himself in this in-between space more and more these days. Until relatively recently, the thirty-four-year-old was familiar primarily to the digitally immersed, especially Americans in their twenties and thirties, mostly thanks to his dominant presence on the streaming platform Twitch. But since a recent presidential election, Piker has become an in-demand voice in “traditional media” for his analysis on the beleaguered political left, and specifically that constantly fretted-over demographic, young men.

A Favorite Hate Figure for the Political Right

Unsurprisingly, this also makes Piker a favorite target of the political right. To his c critics there is a lot to dislike: his direct political views; his cultural 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 not been afraid his appearance in shirtless magazine photoshoots 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 preparing to start his regular late morning show. He typically streams live for seven or eight hours straight, talking off the cuff 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 comments from viewers.

Beginning at The Young Turks to Twitch

Building himself on Twitch, a platform primarily for livestreaming video games, was a deliberate decision, Piker explains. His media career started out with The Young Turks, the progressive online news network. Piker’s parents are Turkish immigrants, and he grew up 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 dominantly rightwing, and often toxic views that infested the space.

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

The Problem with the American Left

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

Piker is consistently critical of past administrations on his show, particularly on foreign policy, but he is no loyal member of the dominant center-left party. His own politics are generally social democratic and “compassion-driven”, he clarifies. “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, accessible commentary is that he’ll occasionally go too far, which provides his critics ammunition. He has been temporarily banned from Twitch multiple times for perceived offensive content. Most notoriously, in 2019, in the framework of a wider critique, he made a comment about a historic attack that was seized upon by conservative media outlets. Piker later expressed regret and said the wording was ill-chosen.

Likewise, Piker’s vocal support for Palestinians and criticism of certain government actions have led to accusations of prejudice, which he strongly rejects. He has also been ridiculed for expressing admiration 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.”

Real-World Consequences

The hate constantly threatens to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was questioned by American border agents on his re-entry from a trip. They interrogated him about his political opinions before releasing him. “I think they did it because they know who I am,” he said.

These levels of enmity help explain the “Free Kaya!” incident in Dublin. It originated from a Twitch stream where his dog, Kaya, yelped suddenly. Online conspiracy theorists jumped to the conclusion that Piker was harming the animal, sparking a meme-fueled controversy dubbed “collargate.” Even a major animal rights organization put out a statement. This led to the ambush by a random in Dublin.

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

The Divide Between Online and Offline Worlds

This illustrates the difference between the offline and online worlds, he explains: “It’s very hard to maintain a very negative energy in the real world and not coming across as hysterical 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 conservative commentator served as a shocking example of where this online hate can lead. Piker watched the event develop 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 over a decade,” he says. Toxic one-sided fan dynamics come with the territory, he acknowledges.

The Future and Finding Balance

Having been accurate about the last election, how does Piker view the next few years? “The landscape shifts quite quickly, but if you look at the areas where there is some glimmer of hope, it’s the progressive candidates that are actually really galvanising the public,” he says. He references the progressive “wing”.

“We have to lean into 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 prevent a worse alternative.”

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

And on top of that, he clearly finds it fulfilling: “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 eager to get started.