NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
Several mainstream media outlets platformed pro-communist commentator Hasan Piker, who has previously called for people to be “killed” on Twitch, to weigh in on the assassination of Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk from a left-wing perspective.
Piker had been scheduled to debate Kirk at Dartmouth College later this month, but Kirk was shot and killed last week during a campus event at Utah Valley University. The two had debated multiple times before at Politicon events.
In the days following Kirk’s death, outlets including Vanity Fair, Politico and The New York Times interviewed Piker for his reaction and what the tragic killing might mean for political commentators moving forward.
In an interview with Vanity Fair on Friday, Piker was described as “immediately traumatized” after seeing video of Kirk being shot, but he went on to criticize the ways people have begun eulogizing Kirk for whitewashing “the incendiary, explosive, dehumanizing language” that Kirk had used.
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, was speaking on his “American Comeback Tour” when he was shot in the neck and killed. (Trent Nelson/The Salt Lake Tribune/Getty Images)
“It’s just that I think people venerating a person, with what I consider to be a morally repugnant political ideology, is going to have unforeseen secondary consequences, as far as normalization of this ideology,” Piker said. “We’re seeing that in every aspect of society already, and it’s very frustrating.”
Though he criticized Kirk, Piker condemned political violence across all publications, telling Politico on Thursday that he “never advocated for such a thing” and “never would.” He added that he feared “political repercussions” in the wake of Kirk’s death, though did not elaborate on which side.
“I fear that that is the worst future possible: political repercussions, political persecution on the systemic side against political dissidents and enemies of the state, and decentralized acts of violence on the individual side,” Piker told Politico.
He went into more detail with The New York Times on Friday, claiming that Republican lawmakers were taking advantage of the “confusion” surrounding the shooter’s motivation to foment calls for vengeance.
“But that confusion, I think, is being utilized by many, including people in positions of power, like the administration and many other prominent Republicans in Congress, to enact some sort of vengeance or political persecution of all political dissidents that have spoken out against either Charlie Kirk, or even the Trump administration,” Piker said.
CHARLIE KIRK PAINTED AS ‘CONTROVERSIAL,’ ‘PROVOCATIVE’ IN MEDIA’S ASSASSINATION COVERAGE
Hasan Piker gave his thoughts about Charlie Kirk in at least three publications in the days following Kirk’s assassination. (Randy Shropshire/Getty Images for Streamy Awards; Nordin Catic/Getty Images for The Cambridge Union)
The New York Times also ran an opinion piece by Piker on Saturday titled, “I Was Supposed to Debate Charlie Kirk. Here’s What I Would Have Said.” In it, Piker tied Kirk’s death to what he described as lax gun laws, civil decline and social challenges linked to capitalism.
“The social challenges include rising rents and homelessness, the destruction caused by climate change, titanic levels of inequality, and too many others to name here. Our capitalist way of life — always accumulating, never evening out — leaves more and more people to deal with these problems on their own,” Piker wrote.
In a comment to Fox News Digital, a New York Times spokesperson defended speaking to Piker as a way to “better understand” Kirk from different perspectives.
“The Times has published dozens of news articles and Opinion pieces about Charlie Kirk after his assassination to help readers better understand him and this social and political era. Kirk and Hasan Piker had debated each other before, and were about to do it again. They saw value in talking to each other, and they weren’t afraid to engage in open debate about issues and ideas,” the spokesperson said.
Fox News Digital also reached out to Vanity Fair and Politico for comment.
‘CHEERLEADING FOR TERRORISM’: TWITCH STAR CALLED FOR NEW 9/11, DISMISSED HORROR OF OCT 7
Hasan Piker has come under fire for using incendiary language against Republicans during Twitch streams. (Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for Politicon)
Piker, who has openly supported communism as an “honorable” goal in the past, has a history of using violent language on his Twitch stream against political opponents.
Earlier this year, Piker apologized after being suspended from Twitch for urging people to “kill” Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., while on a stream.
“[Republicans are] not tackling providers; they’re not actually going after false billing. They are trying to cut recipients. [Fraud] is not happening at the point of recipient. If you cared about Medicare fraud or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott,” he said.
Across X, videos also resurfaced of Piker using incendiary language to call for bloody massacres of capitalists and Republicans.
“Yeah kill them! KiII those mother—ers and murder those mother—ers in the streets. Let the streets soak in their f—ing red capitalist blood, dude,” Piker said regarding property owners who choose not to rent out empty homes.
“Left-wingers, liberals, you need to be f—ing showing your opponents’ guts on there. You need to be gutting them,” Piker said in a video presumably following the 2022 Georgia Senate debate.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital reached out to Piker for a comment but did not immediately receive a response.
