‘I love when my foes hate me’: the way Hasan Piker rose to become among the most prominent personalities on the American political left

Hasan Piker dubs it the bus driver test: “You get on a bus and you have half a minute to describe whatever online event took place to the bus driver before them looking at you and saying, ‘Leave the damn bus.’” The vast majority of online debate, regardless of how intense, does not pass the test, he says – including 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 shouted “Free Kaya!” Forget the bus driver; attempting to explain the significance of this particular event could easily take the rest of this article.

Navigating the Gray Space

Piker increasingly exists in this liminal zone more and more these days. Until fairly recently, the 34-year-old was known 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 become an in-demand voice in “offline circles” for his analysis on the struggling political left, and specifically that constantly fretted-over demographic, young men.

A Favorite Hate Figure for the Right

Predictably, this also positions Piker a favorite villain of the political right. To his enemies there is a lot to dislike: his outspoken political stances; his cultural background; his allegiances with left-wing politicians. But they also resent the fact that Piker – tall, muscular, fashionable and handsome – does not fit typical lefty stereotypes. He has not been afraid his physique in revealing 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 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 late morning show. He usually broadcasts live for seven or eight hours straight, 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 messages from viewers.

From The Young Turks to Solo Streaming

Establishing himself on Twitch, a platform primarily for streaming video games, was a conscious 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 majoring in political science. He graduated to his own show on the network in 2016 but in 2018 he chose to go solo on Twitch, to provide an alternative to what he saw as overwhelmingly conservative, and often divisive views that permeated the space.

“You can find ideological variety amongst the gamers, amongst the developers, amongst the consumers, but sadly, the market for political commentary in this arena is so overwhelmingly dominated by the right,” he says.

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 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 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 position is actually the standard position in most of the world.”

Controversies and Criticism

One of the risks of Piker’s type of relaxed, relatable commentary is that he’ll sometimes go too far, which gives his critics fodder. He has been temporarily banned from Twitch multiple 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 expressed regret and said the wording was ill-chosen.

Similarly, Piker’s outspoken support for Palestinians and criticism of certain government actions have led to allegations of bias, which he strongly rejects. He has also been ridiculed for expressing admiration for another 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.”

Real-World Consequences

The hate constantly threatens to spill offline, however. On one occasion, Piker was questioned by US 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 enmity help explain the “Free Kaya!” incident in Dublin. It started with a Twitch stream where his dog, Kaya, made a noise suddenly. Online conspiracy theorists jumped to the conclusion 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 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 shocked,” he said.

The Divide Between Digital and Real Worlds

This highlights the difference between the offline and online worlds, he explains: “It’s very difficult to maintain a very negative energy in the real world and not coming across as unhinged and odd. Interactions on the internet foster this environment where you can be as hostile as you want.”

That Dublin encounter was relatively low stakes. In the US, he feels less safe. The assassination of a conservative commentator was a harrowing 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 over a decade,” he says. Toxic parasocial relationships are part of the territory, he acknowledges.

The Future and Finding Balance

Having been prescient about a recent election, how does Piker view the next few years? “The landscape shifts quite rapidly, but if you look at the areas where there is some glimmer of hope, it’s the progressive candidates that are actually truly galvanising the public,” he says. He references 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 avoid 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 occasional media guest spots, but he’s not tempted further into legacy media, he says. “Viewers is moving in my direction, and away from legacy publishers.”

And 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 marathon live stream is about to begin, and he’s itching to get started.