Hasan Piker, a well-known left-wing political commentator, faced a temporary ban from Twitch, the popular streaming platform owned by Amazon, where he has a large following.
The ban was issued shortly after a video clip went viral showing Piker making a controversial statement about Republicans potentially harming Florida Senator Rick Scott in response to concerns over government fraud.
During a livestream on February 28 to his 2.8 million followers, Piker stated, ‘If you cared about Medicare fraud, or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott, okay?’ This comment quickly stirred up controversy and led to his suspension from the platform.
Piker, who has been described as the ‘Democrats answer to Joe Rogan’, was shut out from the platform on Monday, with visitors to his page greeted with a message stating the account was ‘temporarily unavailable due to a violation of Twitch’s Community Guidelines or Terms of Service.’
Twitch did not provide an official reason for the ban but Piker’s remarks were seen by many conservatives as an open call to violence.
The streamer later took to YouTube, where his channel remains active with 1.5 million subscribers, to address the controversy head-on.
‘What’s up, everyone? If you’re seeing this, that means I’ve probably been banned,’ Piker told viewers in a defiant tone.
‘That’s right – cancel culture has finally come for me. Oh my God, it’s over. It’s over. The Free Speech Warriors – where are you now? They’ve taken me out, ladies and gentlemen. It’s over. I’m done.’
Piker laid out his defense vehemently denying that his remarks were meant as a literal call to action.
‘Now, that seems like a wild thing to say. “Oh my God, is this person calling for the death of a U.S. senator?” Of course not. I was not calling for the assassination of a U.S. senator,’ he insisted.
Instead, he claimed that his words were a hyperbolic expression of frustration at what he sees as Republican hypocrisy in handling government fraud.
At the core of Piker’s comments was a searing criticism of Florida Senator and former Republican Florida Governor Rick Scott, who led the massive Columbia/HCA health care fraud scheme in the 1990s.
The company, which Scott co-founded, was fined a record-breaking $1.7 billion for defrauding Medicare and Medicaid.
Scott has repeatedly tried to distance himself from the scandal, even claiming last year that, like former President Donald Trump, he was the victim of ‘political persecution.’
‘I saw this. It happened to me,’ Scott said, defending himself. ‘I fought Hillarycare, and guess what happened when I fought Hillarycare? Justice came after me and attacked me and my company.’
But Piker wasn’t buying it.
‘The reason why I’m saying if you cared about Medicare or Medicaid fraud, you’d kill Rick Scott – and not make him a prominent part of the Republican Party – is because he, to this day, is still known for committing the largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history,’ Piker said in his YouTube video, clarifying his controversial remarks.
The backlash against Pike was swift with conservative commentators and right-wing influencers leading the charge for Piker’s removal from Twitch.
The influential account Libs of TikTok, which frequently targets left-wing public figures, highlighted the clip in a tweet that quickly gained traction.
‘Hassan Piker just called for violence against a sitting U.S. Senator,’ the post read, tagging the FBI. The tweet racked up 742,000 likes in a matter of days, setting the stage for a full-scale digital takedown.
But it wasn’t just conservative activists calling for action. Even fellow Twitch streamer and gaming commentator Asmongold who has become one of the largest political voices on the platform suggested Piker’s comments violated Twitch’s policies.
‘How is that not against the TOS?’ Asmongold asked during a YouTube livestream. ‘It’s an open call to violence. I challenge anybody who thinks it’s not an open call to violence to say that exact thing about Donald Trump and then tell me if the Secret Service shows up at your house or not.’
Asmongold, who also boasts almost 7 million followers across Twitch and YouTube, often reacts to Trump’s events daily, gaining millions of views per video.
In his YouTube rebuttal, Piker admitted that his word choice had been reckless but doubled down on his broader point.
‘I shouldn’t have used the term “kill”. I should have used either ‘capital punishment’ or just ‘punishment’ in general,’ he conceded.
‘But once again, I’ve let you down. I’ve used hyperbolic language, and that hyperbolic language has brought trouble my way.’
However, Piker insisted that the real scandal wasn’t his wording – it was the Republican Party’s decision to embrace Rick Scott despite his history of defrauding the federal government.
‘Justice has not been served against Rick Scott in this case. Justice rarely ever gets served against rich people who exploit others—against rich people who defraud the federal government,’ he said.
Piker’s Twitch suspension was lifted after a day and he returned to the platform on Tuesday afternoon.
‘IM BACK! GET IN NOW!’ he tweeted before heading back to Twitch.
‘UNBANNED. I’m back and apolitical now!’ he wrote.
