Piker Clarifies Comments
Hasan Piker is once again fighting with critics over one of the most infamous comments of his career, and the timing isn’t particularly convenient for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Piker, the enormously successful left-wing political streamer who supported El-Sayed during Michigan’s Democratic primary, returned to X to address criticism surrounding his 2019 declaration […]
Hasan Piker is once again fighting with critics over one of the most infamous comments of his career, and the timing isn’t particularly convenient for Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed.
Piker, the enormously successful left-wing political streamer who supported El-Sayed during Michigan’s Democratic primary, returned to X to address criticism surrounding his 2019 declaration that “America deserved 9/11.”
That seven-year-old remark has followed Piker ever since he made it.
Piker originally delivered the line while discussing American foreign policy and then-Rep. Dan Crenshaw, a former Navy SEAL. After the resulting backlash, Piker said his language had been inappropriate and that he should have expressed his argument more precisely.
Critics have long argued that this fell short of simply repudiating the statement.
Now the controversy has acquired fresh political relevance because Piker enthusiastically backed El-Sayed, who defeated Rep. Haley Stevens in Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary.
El-Sayed’s victory immediately elevated everything surrounding his campaign to general-election scrutiny. Old videos, endorsements, associations and controversial statements are being recirculated as Republicans begin building their case against him.
Piker’s history provides plenty of material.
His “America deserved 9/11” remark is only one example. Other old comments circulating online include inflammatory statements about Israelis and settlers in the West Bank, as well as a crude remark involving wealthy young men and sexual assault.