Hasan Piker Lawyers Up
On Tuesday, during his nationally syndicated Salem Media radio show, MAGA pundit Scott Jennings played a compilation of clips from Twitch star Hasan Piker as part of a segment he has dubbed an “exploration of the radical socialist streamer.” Jennings then leveled an explosive accusation.
“Now [Abdul] El-Sayed’s best friend is out there calling for Black voters to be lynched,” Jennings said after playing the edited montage, referring to the Michigan Democratic Senate nominee. “Beneath all the smiles and dancing videos, there’s nothing but hate and violence in the heart of these communists.” The CNN commentator took the same message to social media, urging followers to “listen for yourself.”
But a detailed listen of the audio told a different story. A Snopes investigation found that the clip was stitched together from multiple separate streams and stripped of key context. While the clips themselves were authentic, the claim built on top of them was not. Instead, Piker had been sarcastically riffing on a viewer’s chat message.
As a result, Piker told me he is taking what he considers to be defamatory comments from Jennings very seriously. The 35-year-old told Status that he and his legal team are preparing a defamation suit against Jennings and Salem Media over the segment, and that filing “seems unavoidable.” He also said the anticipated legal action may ultimately expand to include Fox News, where a prominent anchor discussed comments featured in the clip.
“This kind of defamation is completely unacceptable,” Piker said. “It’s exactly how normal people perceive mainstream media to operate, and it’s a real crisis of credibility. I think someone has to push back against it at some point.”
Jennings and Salem Media did not respond to requests for comment.
Of course, Piker has become a political lightning rod during the midterm election cycle, drawing criticism from both the left and the right over his often inflammatory commentary. But he argued that a recent wave of viral clips circulating online has become increasingly “deceptive” and deliberately stripped of context.
Piker said many traditional media figures don’t understand the mechanics of streaming, where creators often read viewer comments aloud before responding to or mocking them. This rhythm, he argues, isn’t discernible to those who only watch highlight clips. “Even like the 10 seconds prior they don’t watch. Or 10 seconds after, from these heavily edited” clips, Piker told Status. “I think a lot of people don’t understand the medium, which I don’t even fault them for.”
Jennings, in Piker’s telling, is one of those who doesn’t get it. “I do think there are people who understand the medium and are cynically weaponizing it. I don’t think Scott Jennings knows what Twitch is. I don’t think he understands the format that I occupy,” Piker said, adding that he suspects Jennings was simply handed the material by Republican political operatives looking to fold him into their midterm messaging.
Still, Piker slammed Jennings for his attacks, calling the CNN contributor “a liar” and “a hatchet man,” and accusing him of using his role as one of the network’s most prominent pro-Trump commentators to position himself for a future role inside the Trump administration or Republican Party.
Piker also questioned why CNN continues to feature Jennings so prominently on its airwaves. “In Trump 2.0, we now traffic in lies all the time. Just because the Republicans are trafficking in lies with regular frequency doesn’t mean that you can’t uphold some kind of editorial standard,” Piker said. “CNN can put whoever they want to on a panel at the end of the day, but it just signals to me, and I think a lot of other people, that some of their panelists are just going to be liars.”
Jennings is not the only CNN contributor to make disputed claims about Piker in recent weeks, which the network appears to be treading carefully around. During a July panel discussion, contributor Jonah Goldberg alleged that Piker “abuses his dog on camera.” Reacting to the comment, Piker said, “Now they’re doing defamation,” arguing that mainstream media hadn’t covered the unproven claims for a reason. The following day, CNN anchor Kasie Hunt walked it back, acknowledging that one of the panelists had made an “unexpected comment” about Piker’s alleged animal abuse, adding that the streamer “denies this claim.”
Despite his criticism of CNN, Piker told Status he has no plans to include the network in a potential lawsuit against Jennings, which were made during his unaffiliated radio show. A CNN spokesperson referred Status to Jennings and Salem Media for comment.
Another cable network, however, may find itself in Piker’s legal crosshairs.
Piker told me he is also mulling over legal action against Fox News after anchor Harris Faulkner referenced the same edited compilation during an on-air segment. “We haven’t shown it. It’s tough to show some of the things that he is known to have said because it’s on video and it’s him saying it, but there are so many expletives,” Faulkner said on air, before she repeated claims from the deceptively edited video.
A Fox News spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Meanwhile, for Piker, the fallout has moved off-screen. The streamer told Status he has tightened security, cut back on travel, and scaled down public appearances amid what he described as a sharp increase in threats. “I am getting inundated with death threats, so much more than ever before,” he said, adding, “It’s nothing I haven’t grown accustomed to.”
And ultimately, the accusations have started to become an unwanted distraction from the work Piker said he actually wants to be doing. “I am a political commentator after all, so I have to get back to the news,” he said.
“It kind of sucks when the news is just me.”
Paramount boss David Ellison. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)
The Wrap founder Sharon Waxman wrote in an opinion piece for The NYT that Paramount’s David Ellison is “deadly serious” about moving the company out of California over the states’ antitrust lawsuit, according to a company executive house shopping in Tennessee. [NYT]
CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman was accused of harassment for alleged inappropriate comments, as part of a wrongful termination suit filed by former ABC News producer Samira Said. [Variety]
A representative for Gutman declined to comment to Variety. A spokesperson for CBS News declined to comment.
The FT added a note to an opinion piece by Harvard professor Ricardo Hausmann that said A.I. was used in its creation. [FT]
The note read: “It has come to our attention that AI was used to condense a longer draft of this column prior to submission to the FT and our own editorial involvement. The FT editorial code of conduct specifically prohibits the use of AI in the writing process.”
The National Association of Black Journalists awarded Stephen A. Smith a “thumbs down award,” saying he has “established a recurring public pattern of disparaging commentary directed at prominent Black women across politics, sports, and media.” [Awful Announcing]
The award drew a terse response from the ESPN personality. “I’ve shut my mouth for years. Now y’all started something,” he wrote on X.
CNN anchor Pamela Brown wrote an account of her time on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, which has been in the spotlight amid reports of dire living conditions during its lengthy deployment. [CNN]
Donald Trump went on an unhinged Truth Social rant against “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream, saying her show was “beyond redemption.” [Raw Story]
Anderson Cooper hit out at Trump Media’s subscription service, which has begun charging as much as $100,000 for early access to Trump’s Truth Social posts. [Mediaite]
“I know there’s no shame anymore, but it is shameful,” he said during an interview with Rep. Jamie Raskin.
Former Teen Vogue editor-in-chief Versha Sharma was interviewed by La Fronde about her time at the Condé Nast publication, which has since been folded into the broader Vogue properties, a move she says was a “surprise.” [La Fronde]
Los Angeles-based journalist Carlitos Ricardo Parias is approaching 300 days in ICE detention after being shot and apprehended by agents in October, well surpassing the record for the longest time a journalist has been held in U.S. custody. [The Intercept]
“Call Her Daddy” host Alex Cooper is leaving her talent agency UTA for rival CAA, though negotiations are ongoing, Lucas Shaw reported. [Bloomberg]
Marvel announced the cast for its upcoming “X-Men” movie and a May 5, 2028 release date. [THR]
Sadie Sink, Kit Connor, Christopher Abbott, Samara Weaving, Inde Navarrette, and Maya Boyd are among the cast’s big names. Adam Driver will play the film’s villain.
California’s effort to revive Hollywood with a newly expanded $750 million film and TV tax-credit program may be undermined by another state law that limits how businesses can use those credits, prompting industry allies to scramble for a legislative fix. [THR]
A lawyer for Selena Gomez responded to a lawsuit from investors in her mental health startup, calling it “meritless.” [PEOPLE]
RIP: Dave Marsh, the influential rock critic who wrote biographies of Bruce Springsteen and The Who, died at 76. [Rolling Stone]
Tom Holland and Zendaya in “Spider-Man: Brand New Day.” (Sony Pictures Entertainment)
“Spider-Man: Brand New Day” kept its spot on top at the domestic box office, scoring $70 million in its third weekend.
The film also crossed a brand-new milestone, surpassing $2 billion at the global box office and becoming the second-fastest to reach the mark behind 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.”
“The Odyssey” remained in second place, with the Christopher Nolan epic adding just over $23 million to its growing haul, which has passed $500 million domestically and is nearing $1.3 billion globally.
“The End of Oak Street” debuted in third place, as the Anne Hathaway-starred mystery-thriller grabbed $21 million domestically in its first weekend.
“PAW Patrol: The Dino Movie” placed fourth in its debut weekend, earning over $20 million.
Rounding out the top 5 was “Katseye: Wild Hearts,” a documentary about the group that grossed nearly $4 million from just over 750 theaters.
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