"Hasan Piker is a talker. He spends up to eight hours a day in front of a microphone and a camera, streaming on Twitch. He talks so much that he doesn't even remember what he was talking about last week when he started to hear that Charlie Kirk had been shot. Watching Piker stream is a little like watching a cable news commentator who is simultaneously an air traffic controller. He has a whole lot of feeds up at once."
"His spin is unapologetically leftist. It made him an epistemological rival of Kirk's. On Wednesday, Piker told his viewers that if the rumors about the Charlie Kirk shooting were true, there must be video. Which is when they started sending links. First, from a distance-crowds running. Then, closer. Having covered so much violence, like the atrocities in Gaza, he thought he was desensitized. But the video struck a chord with him."
Hasan Piker streams on Twitch up to eight hours daily, often processing multiple real-time feeds and audience messages while commenting on current events. His commentary is unabashedly leftist and frames him as an epistemological rival to conservative figures like Charlie Kirk. When reports emerged that Charlie Kirk had been shot, viewers began sending video links that escalated the moment. Piker described feeling visceral fear and recognition upon seeing the footage of someone he knew and had debated. A scheduled debate with Kirk at Dartmouth now feels altered, and routine activities like travel and public speaking feel different in the aftermath.
Read at Slate Magazine
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