Who is Hasan Piker? Popular streamer banned from Twitch for urging viewers to ‘kill’ Florida senator Rick Scott
In a livestream, Hasan Piker accused Rick Scott of committing the “largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history.”
Turkish-American streamer and political commentator Hasan Piker has been banned from streaming platform Twitch after he allegedly threatened Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla, CBS Austin reported. Video that surfaced on social media shows Piker urging people to “kill Rick Scott” during a livestream. In the clip, the streamer accuses Scott of committing the “largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history.”
“If you cared about Medicare fraud or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott,” Piker said.
Piker’s Twitch page now shows an error message that says “this channel is temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch's Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.”
Piker later took to X to apologise for his remarks. “im sorry! ill choose my words carefully next time & say “if mike johnson cares abt medicare fraud (since he wants to cut 800m from medicaid/medicare) he’d call for MAX PUNISHMENT for current fl gop senator/former gov rick scott- who has done the most medicare fraud in us history!” he wrote.
In the post, Piker attached screenshots of documents relating to Scott’s company Columbia/HCA. The company reportedly paid over $1 billion in fines in the early 2000s after admitting to repeatedly lying to Medicare in an effort to increase profits.
Piker added in the comment section, “big shout out to the right wing free speech lovers who took time out of their day screaming about dei & immigrants, to cry abt this!”
Who is Hasan Piker?
Piker is an online streamer, YouTuber, influencer, and left-wing political commentator. His content largely includes political and social commentary, gaming, and media consumption. He was the 21st-most-subscribed channel on Twitch as of 2024. He began streaming on Twitch back in March 2018 while working at The Young Turks news channel.
According to IMDb, “Hasan Piker is an entertainment and political journalist known for his "explainer" videos on The Young Turks that provide detailed analysis on the top news stories of the day. Aside from covering pop culture news on TYT's entertainment channel, Pop Trigger, Hasan is also a regular contributor on Buzzfeed and TMZ's TooFab.”
