From Online Streamer to Ideological Figurehead: The Ascent of Hasan Piker

Hasan Piker dubs it the bus driver test: “You get on a bus and you have half a minute to clarify whatever online phenomena occurred to the bus driver before them turning to you and going, ‘Leave the damn bus.’” The vast majority of online conversation, no matter how fiery, fails the test, he contends – not least an incident last weekend, when someone on a Dublin street asked 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 importance of that specific event might well take the remainder of this article.

Navigating the Gray Zone

Piker increasingly exists in this gray area more and more these days. Until relatively recently, the thirty-four-year-old was familiar primarily to the very online, especially Americans in their twenties and thirties, largely thanks to his dominant presence on the streaming channel Twitch. But since a recent presidential election, Piker has transformed into an in-demand voice in “offline circles” for his analysis on the struggling political left, and specifically that constantly discussed demographic, young men.

A Favorite Hate Figure for the Political Right

Predictably, this also positions Piker a favorite villain of the political right. To his detractors there is a lot to criticize: his outspoken political stances; his cultural background; his allegiances with progressive politicians. But they also resent the fact that Piker – tall, muscular, fashionable and handsome – does not fit stereotypical lefty stereotypes. He has leveraged his appearance in revealing 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 early and he’s preparing to start his daily 11am show. He usually broadcasts live for seven to eight hours consecutively, talking off the cuff 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 comments from viewers.

Beginning at The Young Turks to Twitch

Building himself on Twitch, which is primarily for streaming 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 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 permeated the space.

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

The Challenge with the American Left

This is the fundamental 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 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 not a loyal supporter of the dominant center-left party. His own politics are generally social democrat and “compassion-driven”, he explains. “My viewpoint is actually the normal position in most of the world.”

Controversies and Backlash

One of the dangers of Piker’s style of relaxed, accessible commentary is that he’ll occasionally go too far, which provides his critics ammunition. He has been suspended 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.

Similarly, Piker’s outspoken support for Palestinian rights and criticism of certain government actions have led to allegations of prejudice, 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 attacked by people on the right. I love when my enemies hate me,” he says. “It is what it is.”

Offline Repercussions

The vitriol constantly threatens to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was detained by American border agents on his return from a trip. They questioned him about his views before letting him go. “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, made a noise suddenly. Online detractors swiftly concluded that Piker was mistreating the animal, igniting a meme-fueled controversy dubbed “collargate.” Even a prominent 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 edited 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 Digital and Offline Worlds

This highlights the difference between the offline and online worlds, he says: “It’s very difficult to maintain a very negative 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 feels less safe. The assassination of a conservative commentator served as 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 guide my life. I’ve gotten death threats for years,” he says. Toxic one-sided fan dynamics are part of the territory, he acknowledges.

The Future and Staying Grounded

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 semblance 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 everything in my power to try and prevent a worse alternative.”

The American left could perhaps do with someone like Piker. But it seems unlikely as if Piker is tempted in mainstream political office. He makes occasional media appearances, but he’s not tempted further into traditional media, he says. “The audience is moving in my direction, and away from legacy publishers.”

And 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 awaits, and he’s itching to get started.