What Hasan Piker Told His Millions of Followers After Charlie Kirk Was Shot
The popular lefty streamer gets candid about sparring with the late conservative activist and his own fears about political violence.
By Adam Wren09/11/2025 02:07 PM EDT
For all the obvious reasons, hearing that Charlie Kirk had been shot was shocking for Hasan Piker, the progressive influencer and Twitch streamer with a massive following. But there was another explanation for why his stomach sank.
Not only had he personally known Kirk, he was set to debate him at the Dartmouth Political Union about young people and politics — left vs. right — in just two weeks.
And soon after, Piker watched as his own death threats started to arrive.
“That is the one fear that’s always in the back of your mind when you engage in any sort of political advocacy when you do these events,” Piker told POLITICO Magazine. “As a recipient of millions of death threats at this point over the years, watching that unfold in real time was devastating.”
Piker said he would likely “wait for the temperature to lower a little bit” but would ultimately keep doing public events; he doesn’t want to live in fear.
In a wide-ranging conversation, Piker also talked about his worries of a new era of “decentralized violence” in the United States, why Kirk found an audience among Gen Zers and whether our political discourse can be healed.
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I think it’s interesting, because I cover all of the atrocities unfolding in Gaza all the time, every day, and there are so many. And as a part of my profession,
Politico
Never heard of Kirk or Piker or any other influencers/monetizers of politics. They've been tuned out since the days of Emmett Tyrrell. They're essentially a variation on the shock jocks on morning commute radio. |
