Hasan Piker

Piker at Politicon 2018

**Hasan Doğan Piker** (born July 25, 1991), also known online as **HasanAbi**, is a Turkish-American online streamer and left-wing political commentator. He hosted the Leftovers podcast with Ethan Klein from 2021 to 2023.

He has previously worked as a broadcast journalist and producer at *The Young Turks* and as a columnist at *HuffPost*. He is currently one of the most-viewed and most-subscribed-to streamers on Twitch, where he covers news, plays a variety of video games, and discusses politics from a socialist perspective.

## Early Life

Hasan Doğan Piker was born to Turkish parents in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Despite this, he was raised in Istanbul, Turkey. He says he was bullied during his time in public school in Turkey for his lack of physical fitness and questioning attitude towards Islam.

Piker returned to the United States and attended the University of Miami, then transferred to Rutgers University, where he graduated cum laude with a double major in political science and communication studies in 2013.

## Career

> See full article: Hasan Piker on Wikipedia
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Starting in 2013, Hasan interned for *The Young Turks* (TYT), a progressive news show and network co-founded by his uncle, Cenk Uygur. After graduating, Hasan was hired by the network's ad sales and business department. He asked to host the show when a fill-in was needed, and later became a host and producer. Uygur described his nephew as "magnetic" though "rough around the edges" at first.

Hasan created numerous shows for the network, including *The Breakdown*, which was nominated in the "Best Web Series" category at the 10th Shorty Awards in 2018. Hasan also wrote political content for *HuffPost* from 2016 to 2018. He created and hosted another TYT series in 2019 called *Agitprop with Hasan Piker*. In January 2020, he announced his departure from TYT and his intention to focus on his career as a Twitch streamer.

Hasan started streaming on Twitch in March 2018, while he was working at TYT. Hasan has said he shifted his attention from Facebook to Twitch in order to reach a younger audience, and because of what he felt was a preponderance of right-wing commentators on YouTube and a lack of leftist representation among streamers. He became a popular left-wing political commentator, invited to appear on Fox News's *The Issue Is* and the political podcast *Chapo Trap House*. His YouTube channel features highlights of his streams, and in 2022 reached over 1,000,000 subscribers. Hasan also streams gameplay and commentary of video games on his Twitch channel.

## History with H3

Hasan first appeared on the H3 Podcast on August 17, 2020 as the main interview guest in H3 Podcast #207.

In July 2021, Ethan and Hasan debated streamers XQc and Trainwreckstv on the ethics of promoting gambling to their audiences. Hasan stated that, after the debate with the streamers, he knew him and Ethan would make a show together eventually.

Following the end of Frenemies (and subsequent Families) at the H3 Podcast, Ethan teased a new collaborative podcast for several weeks. It was finally announced on September 26, 2021 that this was to be a political comedy podcast with Hasan called Leftovers. The podcast was announced on X with a direct link to the first episode, which was pre-recorded. The first episode of the Leftovers podcast released on the same day, garnering over a million views in its first 24 hours. Leftovers enjoyed moderate success, with almost all episodes gaining between 500,000 to 1 million+ views each.

After Leftovers #61, the podcast went on an indefinite break. November 28, 2023, Ethan confirmed in See You Next Tuesday #53 that Leftovers would go on a permanent hiatus and was "probably not" coming back. He stated that future collaborations with Hasan are still possible.

## Trivia

* His online username, HasanAbi, comes from the Turkish word "*abi",* meaning "big brother"
* On October 19, 2020, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez collaborated with Hasan and fellow Twitch streamer Pokimane to organize a stream of the Representative playing popular multiplayer game *Among Us* for a "Get out the vote" initiative.
* During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Hasan, in partnership with CARE, raised over $200,000 for Ukrainian relief funds while playing *Elden Ring*, with an average of over 70,000 people watching his coverage of the conflict.
* In June 2022, Hasan, along with other influencers such as Dr. K, was invited to discuss mental health with Surgeon General Vivek Murthy.
* In the aftermath of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, Hasan organized a fundraiser that was also contributed to and promoted by other streamers and content creators. The fundraiser raised over $1,200,000 for various charities such as Care International, the AKUT Search and Rescue Association, and Ahbap.
* During the 2023 Israel–Hamas war, Piker's charity drive on his channel raised over $1,000,000, as of October 21, 2023, for the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund, American Near East Refugee Aid, Medical Aid for Palestinians, and the Palestinian Red Crescent Society. He also spoke about the conflict on BBC News and on Piers Morgan Uncensored along with Ehud Barak, the former Prime Minister of Israel.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Jackson, Gita (May 20, 2019). "Socialist Twitch Streamer Says He's Changing Minds". Kotaku. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Smothers, Hannah (February 20, 2018). "'Woke Bae' Hasan Piker Wants Your F\*cking Attention". *Cosmopolitan*. Retrieved January 17, 2024.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Indiana, Jake (January 27, 2021) "Can Hasan Piker's Stream of Consciousness Save America?". *Highsnobiety*. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
4. ↑ Hasan Piker - Biography. Politicon.
5. ↑ "THE BREAKDOWN". *Shorty Awards*. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
6. ↑ "Hasan Piker". *HuffPost*. Verizon Media. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
7. ↑ *Agitprop with Hasan Piker*. The Young Turks. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Park, Gene (October 21, 2020). "AOC playing ‘Among Us’ shouldn’t surprise you. Streams are a beloved pastime." The Washington Post. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
9. ↑ Lorenz, Taylor (November 10, 2020). "How Hasan Piker Took Over Twitch". *The New York Times*. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
10. ↑ Koepp, Brent (September 26, 2021). "Hasan confirmed as H3 Podcast’s new 'Leftovers' co-host with Ethan Klein". Dexerto. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
11. ↑ hasanabi [@hasanthehun] (September 26, 2021). "cats out of the bag !". via X. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.
12. ↑ H3 Podcast (September 26, 2021). "And The New Host Is... Leftovers #1". via YouTube. Retrieved on January 17, 2024.