Twitch streamer Hasan Piker sued conservative commentator Scott Jennings on Tuesday, alleging that Jennings had defamed him by misconstruing a quote to make it sound like Piker endorsed lynchings.
On his own podcast on Aug. 11, Jennings played a mashup of clips of Piker, including one in which Piker referenced going “back to a better time when lynchings were happening.” Jennings denounced the commentary and warned Black voters of the “Piker plan of returning our country to lynchings.”
In the lawsuit, Piker’s attorneys state that it was clear that Piker was mocking another person’s argument — not offering his own support for lynchings — and that Jennings repeatedly contorted Piker’s words to convey the opposite of his actual meaning.
“These were not expressions of disagreement with Mr. Piker’s politics,” the lawsuit states. “Nor were they rhetorical characterizations of an admittedly controversial commentator. They were factual assertions about what Mr. Piker had said and advocated in his work. Each statement was demonstrably false.”
The suit seeks $72.5 million in damages.
Piker threatened to sue Jennings, who appears frequently on CNN, within a couple of days of the original comments. The controversy has already been adjudicated by Snopes, the myth-busting site, which came down on Piker’s side.
“A full review of Piker’s unedited remarks confirms Jennings falsely claimed Piker said he was in favor of bringing back lynchings,” the site concluded. “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.”
As a public figure, Piker would have to show that Jennings either knew what he was saying was false or that he acted with reckless disregard for the truth of the statements. He would also have to demonstrate that the comments were provably false statements of fact and not Jennings’ opinions.
“Mr. Jennings was not simply expressing an opinion,” the lawsuit states. “He was falsely asserting that Mr. Piker had advocated racial violence against Black Americans.”
Piker also asserts that he suffered harm to his reputation as a result of Jennings’ comments that damaged his ability to make a living.
According to the complaint, Piker’s lawyers submitted a retraction demand to Jennings on Aug. 31, but they have not received a substantive response.
The mashup of Piker clips had been circulated a few days before Jennings’ commentary by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. The compilation appeared intended to damage Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic Senate nominee in Michigan, who has appeared with Piker.
“How does Abdul El-Sayed’s campaign surrogate Hasan Piker feel about Black Americans?” the NRSC asked on X. “Watch for yourself.”
Source: variety.com
