Far-left Twitch streamer Hasan Piker is suing conservative commentator Scott Jennings for defamation, saying the pundit wrongly accused him of advocating for lynching black people. Piker is demanding $72.5 million in damages.
His criticism filed Tuesday in Washington, DC, zeroes in on an August episode of “The Scott Jennings Show” in which the commenter aired allegedly manipulated video of Piker to depict him as a violent racist.
One instance in the criticism facilities on Piker saying on his own stream, “He said, ‘We need more Klansmen, OK? Can we go back to a better time when lynchings were happening?’”
Controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker speaks during a livestream in which he warns American Jews against tying themselves to Israel. HasanAbi/Twitch
Piker’s go well with says he was speaking about a debate between black political commenters and mocking a conservative as nostalgic for the pre-civil rights period — but Jennings allegedly distorted the quote to make it appear like Piker himself espoused pro-lynching views.
“The words ‘He said,’ which identified the object of Mr. Piker’s ridicule, were omitted. Mr. Piker’s laughter and subsequent explanation were also removed. The resulting video portrayed sarcastic criticism of another as though it were an expression of Mr. Piker’s own beliefs,” the go well with states.
Jennings declined to remark to The Post.
He’d shared the clip in the context of Piker’s support for fellow lefty Abdul El-Sayed, Democratic candidate for the US Senate in Michigan.
A screenshot of conservative commentator Scott Jennings on his show. X / Scott Jennings
“Abdul El-Sayed’s best pal and campaign partner says the USA should resume lynchings against black people,” Jennings said in a post on X selling the clip.
“Listen for yourself and understand what the socialists have in store for the black community.”
Piker claims that content material was a supercut meant to make him look like a crazed bigot.
A screenshot of Hasan Piker talking to viewers on his Twitch stream. @HasanAbi
Quotes included Piker sarcastically saying “It’s because I’m racist” and “You got me because I’m a racist person” — all taken out of context, the lefty alleges.
“Mr. Jennings did not merely mischaracterize something Mr. Piker said. He took a false, fabricated, and manipulated video of Mr. Piker, added a made-up quotation that Mr. Piker never uttered, and then made accusations that went beyond even what the manipulated footage purported to show,” the submitting states.
Piker’s go well with says he requested for a retraction back in August, to no avail.
Scott Jennings, an American author and conservative commentator, speaks at the Kentucky Capitol on Oct. 21. USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
The commenter — a large fan of New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, among other democratic socialists — is in search of $27.5 million in compensatory damages plus $45 million in punitive damages.
“Scott Jennings accused Hasan Piker of calling for Black Americans to be lynched. That is an extraordinary accusation. And it was a lie. Jennings took a manipulated video, put words in Hasan’s mouth that he never spoke, and then held those words up as proof of something Hasan never said or believed,” Piker’s lawyer Daniel Watkins instructed The Post in a assertion.
“There is something especially disgraceful about exploiting this country’s history of racial terror to destroy another man’s reputation. Scott Jennings has every right to disagree with Hasan Piker. He has no right to invent what Hasan said. We brought this case because the truth matters, reputation matters, and there comes a point when lying must have consequences.”
In the Piker stream in which “lynching” came up, he was commenting on conservative activist Xavier Durousseau, whose X bio states he is a member of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Council. Durousseau argued “woke DAs” aren’t addressing crime the proper manner.
Earlier in the hours-long stream, Piker called Durousseau a “grifter” and a “failed actor” after it was revealed that Durousseau used to be a Black Lives Matter activist.
“There’s a line when talking about black conversatives. I might come near that line but I don’t cross that line so shut the f–k up,” Piker said on his stream, going on to say both main political events are racist.