Never mind the millions he likely pulls in from Twitch (and who knows what other revenue streams), the multi-million-dollar mansion he lives in in Hollywood (featured in a Rolling Stone photo shoot), or the top speaking slot he had at a major Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) convention. No, dear readers, Oliver Darcy’s website Status put out a story Friday night that wants you to fret over the plight of incendiary, far-left streamer Hasan Piker.
In “The Media’s Hasan ‘Hysteria,” writer Brett LoGiurato spoke with Piker himself about what he said in the subhead was “the media frenzy” around him ahead of the midterms, “and how the press built a narrative around him.
LoGiurato opened by spotlighting an August 30 Meet the Press segment about Piker with the chyron “Divided?” to refer to the internal dispute amongst Democrats about whether to embrace or denounce Piker and his massive audience.
LoGiurato huffed that the thousands of recent mentions on cable news are because of the wider “debate about the Democratic Party’s future, amid factional disputes over Israel and an insurgency from the party’s left flank.”
Along with the midterms, he said it’s “provided what would normally be a right-wing media story with something rare—a Democratic Party willing to fight about it, and a thirsty political media more than willing to help fan the flames.”
Piker had a ludicrous explanation for why he’s in the headlines: “Republicans have no agenda for the midterms. Donald Trump is unpopular. So the whole play is: This movement revolved around one guy. Make him unpopular, and there are consequences for the rest of the party.”
The Status bro declared this belief both “tidy” and “not...unreasonable,” but went to two of the left’s favorite media professors — Jay Rosen and Jeff Jarvis — who are so far left and vitriolic toward conservatives they make their friend Brian Stelter look like someone from FoxNews.com.
LoGiurato then shared the part when Piker told him that the focus around him could only be described as “hysteria” and unprecedented.
The only slice of reasonable analysis came next when LoGiurato conceded “there’s nothing unusual about media covering a story of guilt by association in politics,” especially because Piker has given critics “plenty to work with” as evidenced by his insistence America “deserved” 9/11 and a recent anti-Semitic smear about American Jews and acts of violence.
But because he’s a coward and loyal leftist, LoGiurato played whataboutism by claiming the national press haven’t really focused on the November 2022 dinner between Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Nick Fuentes and that this meeting and anything Laura Loomer has said are far worse than Piker scoffing at 9/11 or that Jews deserve what’s coming to them (click “expand”):
Indeed, what is unusual is the environment in which it is taking place—one that seems to continually ignore inflammatory remarks from the president of the United States and the even more incendiary allies he keeps around. Trump doesn’t face constant questions about his association with white nationalist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes, whom he has hosted for dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club. He is not constantly grilled about the actions and comments of right-wing extremist Laura Loomer—whom, by the way, his administration credentialed to cover a Pentagon that has restricted press access and has gone months since providing a briefing on its war with Iran. (To be clear, this author does not believe what Piker has said comes in the same universe as these two examples—it is simply to draw the contrast.)
Jarvis told me that contrast is the story. “It’s manufactured by opponents and media to gin up conflict,” he said. “I think one has to ask, who does he represent? It’s a small number of people. They represent some people. They have a platform. They have views you can like or not like. And that’s it.”
Ah, there it was from Jarvis. Piker’s audience is infinitesimal and thus should be ignored!
Piker also had whataboutism, wondering why an insufficient amount of hay was made over Fox News Brian Kilmeade’s comment about homeless people that he apologized profusely for.
LoGiurato embarrassingly concluded by gushing over Piker as “a student of media and how it helps shape the narrative” and that he’s been excluded from “be[ing] part of that narrative-shaping” because of what he claims is a ban from CNN and MS NOW:
“Oftentimes in the American press, there’s a tradition of examining the views of the person,” Piker told me. “The fact that I’m not getting that opportunity as a media figure is very interesting. I’m a very accessible media figure. I have friends—I know producers—it’s not like they don’t have my line.”
