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Hasan Dogan Piker, aka HasanAbi, is one of the most popular political streamers on Twitch. Piker joined the Amazon-owned platform in 2018 and became one of the most subbed channels by 2020. Known for his leftist commentary, Hasan is famous for combining socio-political analysis, gaming, and popular culture in his day-to-day streaming.
Hasan had already established himself as a popular progressive figure before joining the streaming community. His work as a journalist and producer at The Young Turks and his stint as a columnist at HuffPost earned him quite a large following, which helped him establish a base on Twitch. With Hasan turning 31 tomorrow, let's explore his career and the reasons for his popularity as a streamer over the last four years.
Tracing HasanAbi's rise on Twitch: Age, political stance, and more
Hasan Piker was born on July 25, 1991 in New Brunswick, New Jersey to Turkish parents. However, his formative years were in Istanbul, Turkey. After schooling there, he moved to the US and finally finished university at Rutgers, graduating cum laude with a double major in political science and communication studies.
Early career and political alignment
Hasan started his career on his uncle's progressive, left-wing news show called The Young Turks in 2013. By 2016 he had his own segment called The Breakdown aimed at providing leftist commentary to a progressive millennial audience. He also started another segment called Agitprop, short for Agitation Propaganda, on the network in 2019.
His shows were a success on the internet, with The Breakdown nominated for a Shorty in 2018. He also wrote as a political analyst for HuffPost. As a progressive, HasanAbi is a vocal supporter of Vermont senator Bernie Sanders and has publicly criticized both the Democratic and Republican parties for various policies.
The self-proclaimed Bernie Bro has been labeled as many things including Marxist, socialist, and democratic socialist. His views on gun control, labor reforms, Medicare for all, and views on LGBTQ+ rights firmly place him on the leftist side of the political compass.
The highs and the lows of streaming
HasanAbi started streaming in 2018 whilst working for The Young Turks. Although starting with games such as Fortnite, he burst onto the scene after dabbling more into the social commentary side of Twitch. He frequently hosted debates and took part in discussions with other Twitch commentators such as Destiny.
Hasan stopped working at other organizations back in 2020 to focus on streaming. With America undergoing serious political changes, social media attention on political analysts was at an all-time high, giving HasanAbi the space to become a progressive voice on Twitch. But his career is not without its share of controversy.
The 30-year-old got into hot waters after an insensitive remark about 9/11 on stream back in August 2019 and was subsequently banned from Twitch for a week. His remark, "America deserved 9/11" caused massive outrage online, and even Fox News picked up the news. He publicly apologized and later clarified his position, lamenting his use of such brash language.
With the American election in 2020, HasanAbi probably had his best year as a streamer. His Among Us stream with progressive Democrats Alexandra Ocasio Cortez and Ilhan Omar along with big streamers such as Pokimane and others gained a lot of traction in the gaming community.
His stream during the 2020 US presidential election results broke his personal record of concurrent viewers, peaking at 230,000. HasanAbi also became the most subbed to channel on the platform that year, making him one of the biggest streamers on Twitch.
He recently got into trouble for using racist language on stream but is still fifth on the list of most subbed Twitch channels. The popularity of the 30-year-old is a prime example of how far streaming has evolved on Twitch. He has amassed more than two million followers on the platform by making content primarily based on political commentary and not just gaming or cooking or IRL streaming.
