Video of Hasan Piker speaking about Black people is heavily edited, missing key context

In August 2026, people alleged a video authentically showed popular Twitch streamer Hasan Piker making derogatory remarks about Black people and saying he wished the U.S. would return to a time of lynchings. The video, comprising three separate clips, circulated at a time when Piker — a left-leaning political voice who streams live for many hours almost daily — was campaigning for Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Party’s U.S. Senate candidate in Michigan.

For example, on Aug 11, conservative political commentator Scott Jennings — who often appears on “CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip” — reposted (archived) the 41-second video, in which Piker appears to make several offensive statements targeting Black people, such as, “I don’t give a f*** what Black people care about,” and mentions going “back to a better time when lynchings were happening.” Other people shared the video, as well.

After showing it, Jennings asked his audience, “Might these Black voters find a home in the Republican Party this fall? Well, if Democratic campaigns are adopting the Piker plan of returning our country to lynchings, that just might happen.”

In sum, the video consists of genuine sentence fragments uttered by Piker — that is, they weren’t fabricated using AI or other digital fakery — but the fragments were stitched together out of context and out of order to twist their original import. Piker’s full, unedited thoughts, delivered forcefully with vulgarities and verbal attacks that some readers might question, appeared to reflect a desire to prioritize winning elections over dwelling on issues that, in his mind, have resulted in electoral losses.

A full review of Piker’s unedited remarks confirms Jennings falsely claimed Piker said he was in favor of bringing back lynchings. In the original stream, Piker’s remarks on lynchings were sarcastic reactions to a user’s chat comment and opinions expressed by someone else in a separate video.

We emailed Jennings to invite comment and ask whether he reviewed Piker’s full episodes. We also emailed a Piker representative and El-Sayed’s campaign to request comment, and will update this article if we receive further information.

On Aug. 12, Piker responded (archived) to Jennings’ post, saying he’s “never seen a more clear cut instance of defamation” and calling it a “blatant disregard for the truth.”

Piker then said on his Aug. 13 stream he was suing Jennings, claiming he was “working through litigation right now.”

Snopes located all three past streams and has presented those videos with transcripts later in this article.

Researching the video

In an Aug. 6 post (archived), the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s X account originally featured the same 41-second video compilation Jennings shared days later.

The clip pulled excerpts from three different streams and was heavily edited:

I don’t give a f*** what Black people care about. [cut] Aw, “Black people care about this. Black people care about that.” Like, shut the f*** up. That’s not how politics works. 

[cut]

“Oh, well, Hasan, how dare you. Like it or not, Black people care about this issue.” It’s like, it’s such a f***ing stupid stance.

[cut]

Any other Black folk want to engage in radical activist language in this f***ing chat? Suck my f***ing c***.

[cut]

Yes, dude. It’s because I’m racist. That’s why. It’s because I’m racist, dude. [cut] “Go back to a better time when lynchings were happening. This is what I like as a Black man.” [cut] “Why are you always doing too much with Black people? Leave them alone. I wanna go back to lynching. Like, I get it but [cut] relax. Man, shut the f*** up, ok? God damn.” [cut] You got me. [cut] Ok, you got me. Because I’m a [cut] racist person.

In an email, we asked the NRSC if the group researched the original clips from Piker’s past streams, as well as invited further comment. NRSC spokesperson Bernadette Breslin did not directly answer the former question, saying via email, “Hasan Piker is a communist fanboy and terrorist sympathizer who glorifies racism and violence. He’s the product of Democrats’ failure to curb the anti-American extremism plaguing their party.” She also cited the Anti-Defamation League’s page warning of Piker’s past rhetoric and shared other examples of alleged inflammatory remarks.

Twitch automatically removes archived live stream videos after seven, 14 or 60 days. To find the relevant streams from the clip no longer hosted on Piker’s Twitch account, we studied his clothing, hair and glasses, as well as the background objects, camera angle and location. A Google search for archived videos from Piker’s live streams led to a YouTube channel dedicated to cataloging his past broadcasts. A video-by-video search for Piker’s appearance and backgrounds located all three original streams.

July 2024

The first clips in the 41-second video, with Piker saying, “I don’t give a f*** what Black people care about,” came from his July 30, 2024, stream.

The pertinent moment, beginning at the 4:10:48 mark, shows him watching a campaign speech featuring then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who was running for president at the time. He reads out loud a chat user’s comment that says, “Like it or not, Black people care about the border.” He then makes an opinionated point about avoiding what he believed to be failed strategies to winning elections (bolding reflects remarks from edited video):

Man, shut the f*** up. “Black people care about the border.” I don’t give a f*** what Black people care about or what you think Black people care about, OK? I’m talking across the board, the Democratic Party literally is going to f***ing lose, and, even if they don’t lose, move the country to a significantly more right-wing position, OK? Aw, “Black people care about this. Black people care about that.” Like, shut the f*** up. That’s not how politics works, OK?

I hate that. I hate this, like, shield, OK? I hate this f***ing idiotic shield, OK? “Oh, well, Hasan, how dare you. Like it or not, Black people care about this issue.” It’s like, it’s such a f***ing stupid stance, OK? It’s such an idiotic stance. Nobody operates like this, OK? Black people don’t operate like this, either. Shut the f*** up. Stop using this as a f***ing shield.

Moments later, Piker continues making remarks about the same subject. He previously addressed the same comments from the 2024 video in an early 2026 stream.

June 2025

The second clip in the 41-second video was from Piker’s June 25, 2025, stream.

Beginning at the 3:16:28 mark, Piker reads out loud a user’s chat message saying, “With all due respect, you don’t know Black people.” Piker responds to that user, “With all due respect, I know polling.”

At the 3:20:41 mark, Piker reads aloud a chat message that says, “Can you shut the f*** up when it comes to Black folk because you really don’t want to talk about us unless it comes from voting. When is the last time you spoke about Sudan?” Piker then forcefully responds, appearing to tell the person he believed their stance “doesn’t work” in elections and would continue leading to their political “demise” (bolding reflects remarks from edited video):

I’m gonna f***ing ether you. Any other Black folk want to engage in radical activist language in this f***ing chat? Suck my f***ing c***, OK? You stupid f***ing rad lib. Get the f*** outta here. Get the f*** out of my chat. F***ing stupid, moronic, f***ing rad lib nonsense. Suck my f***ing d***. F*** you. You think you have a pass in here to f***ing speak like this? Get the f*** out of here. Dumb f***. You think I’m gonna f***ing baby you?

Go ahead. Go post the f***ing clip about how much of a f***ing white supremacist I am. Suck my d***. Annoying dumb f***. God damn, dude, this kind of f***ing, this kind of attitude is so insanely repulsive. Like, what the f*** do you think you’re doing? We’re talking about f***ing creating a larger, broad, people-backed movement and f***ing creating solidarity, and you immediately got Root.com article regurgitaters in here instantly being like, “Uh, sweetie, you don’t understand Black people.” Shut the f*** up. God damn. That attitude left a long f***ing time ago. It doesn’t work, OK? Keep advocating for your own f***ing demise, then. F***ing standpoint theory-a** motherf***ers. Oh my God.

October 2024

Piker’s Oct. 29, 2024, episode features the remaining remarks, including the mentions of lynchings.

At the 6:51:51 mark, Piker presses play on a Jubilee debate video showing Black conservative commentator Xaviaer DuRousseau, who says, “We have all of these woke DA’s [district attorneys] who are putting forth policies.” Piker then pauses the video and laughs, then mocks DuRousseau, saying the following (bolding reflects remarks from edited video):

He said, “We need more Klansmen as DAs, OK? Can we go back to a better time when lynchings were happening? This is what I like as a Black man. Also, there’s no real racism in America.” My man said “woke DAs,” dude. What are you saying?

Moments later, at the 6:53:35 mark, Piker reads aloud a chat message that says, “why you always doing too much with black people leave them alone. ‘I wanna go back to lynching’ like I get it but f**n relax.” The transcript proceeds as follows, beginning with Piker’s reading of the chat user’s message and followed by his sarcastic remarks about being racist:

“Why you always doing too much with Black people? Leave them alone. ‘I wanna go back to lynching’ like I get it but f***ing relax.” Man, shut the f*** up, ok? God damn. Yes, dude. It’s because I’m racist. That’s why. It’s because I’m f***ing racist, dude. You got me. OK, got me because I’m a f***ing racist person.

[Piker continues debate video, then pauses]

Like, there’s a line, OK, when talking about or to Black conservatives. I do not cross that line, OK? I might come near that line but I do not cross that line. So shut the f*** up. I understand the boundaries, OK?

We emailed DuRousseau to request comment and will update this story should we receive a response.

For further reading, we previously investigated the false claim that El-Sayed said he believes America deserved the 9/11 attacks. That comment actually originated from Piker, who in the past has explained he believed people removed the remark from its context, including that his larger intention was to explain his opinion that American foreign policy decisions “have a direct consequence,” and that such decisions ultimately led to the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

Sources