Hasan Piker, often described as the AOC of Twitch, became increasingly popular on the streaming website Twitch. After his critique of Tomi Lahren and former President Trump went viral, he was known as “Woke Bae” on Twitter. This is a timeline of who Hasan Piker is and how he became to be known as the AOC of Twitch.
Hasan Piker’s Origins
Piker was born in New Jersey, though raised in Turkey. After graduating Rutgers University with a double major in communications and political science, he took a job working for his uncle Cenk Uygur, who is a founder of “The Young Turks” which is a progressive news platform. He started off doing ad sales and business development for the brand, but eventually he wanted to make something of his own. In 2016, he pitched the concept for “The Breakdown,” a “Young Turks” video series on Facebook that would have him delivering political analysis for a left-leaning audience. This is when his popular critique of Tomi Lahren and Trump went viral.
The Woke Bae On Your Facebook Feed Has A Name, Hasan Piker https://t.co/0109QbHRC2
— Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) May 29, 2017
In 2018, Piker decided to branch off on his own, beginning his Twitch channel and began to stream sporadically. In 2019, he was streaming more consistently. However, while most Twitch streamers talk about video games or other entertaining topics, Piker normally discusses politics. According to Dexterto, Piker became “the number one most-watched channel on the platform… crushing all other channels in the hours-watched metric.” Piker than began Twitch streaming from his home full time in 2020, receiving income from ads and subscription fees from loyal fans and viewers.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CGpjuCenjOZ/?utm_source=ig_embed&ig_rid=c6b988f8-9b66-435c-b333-5535b49c0fb8
Piker became that much popular after streaming with when he played the game Among Us with Representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar for an audience of hundreds of thousands. He also began to prepare his viewers for what he said would be an election night like no other.
Though he has journalists from mainstream news outlets on his show as guests, he has revealed that he doesn’t want to pursue a career in cable news. It’s easy and comfortable to do everything he wants to do on Twitch and it’s what is making his work stand out. His Twitch channel has since gained 1.5 million followers. Piker also has begun a podcast entitled Leftovers with H3H3’s Ethan Klein.
ADVERTISEMENT
cats out of the bag ! https://t.co/zEoh3gKVB5 pic.twitter.com/DSRQ0n1B1R
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) September 26, 2021
Piker’s Criticism
With popularity on the internet comes critiques, of course. Though describing himself as a socialist, many have commented on him recently buying a 3 million dollar home. In response, he informed everyone that he feels that everyone should calm down.
everyone collectively needs to calm down
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) August 20, 2021
There was also a time where he and Nicki Minaj began tweeting to each other, where Minaj argues against Piker’s response to Tucker Carlson.
Right. I can’t speak to, agree with, even look at someone from a particular political party. Ppl aren’t human any more. If you’re black & a Democrat tells u to shove marbles up ur ass, you simply have to. If another party tells u to look out for that bus, stand there & get hit https://t.co/OhjQZCbmBa
— Nicki Minaj (@NICKIMINAJ) September 15, 2021
Despite criticism, which most influencers deal with, Piker is still an incredibly important influence on Twitch with many people behind him and supporting him.
ADVERTISEMENT
