Hasan Piker wants Scott Jennings to fork over tens of millions of dollars, arguing that the conservative commentator intentionally and maliciously shared “defamatory falsehoods” about him.
In court docs viewed by Complex, Piker’s legal team points to Jennings having “falsely told a nationwide podcast audience that Piker was ‘out there calling for Black voters to be lynched’” in August of this year.
“He falsely told his listeners that Mr. Piker had a ‘plan of returning our country to lynchings,’” the complaint, filed Tuesday (Oct. 27) in a District of Columbia court, adds. “And then he falsely told his social media followers that Mr. Piker ‘says the USA should resume lynchings against Black people.’”
These remarks, the complaint goes on to explain in detail, actually stem from a 2024 Twitch stream during which Piker was reacting to a debate between liberal and conservative commentators.
“Mr. Jennings did not merely mischaracterize something Mr. Piker said,” reads the complaint. “He took a false, fabricated, and manipulated video of Mr. Piker, added a made-up quotation that Mr. Piker never uttered, and then made accusations that went beyond even what the manipulated footage purported to show.”
The manipulated footage in question first started making the rounds on social media in August, with its timing tied to the imminent midterm elections. More specifically, the misleadingly edited clip circulated in an apparent effort to criticize Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat running for office in Michigan. Piker has expressed support for El-Sayed in the past.
Piker’s complaint cites a Snopes investigation into the footage, which found that the video consisted of “fragmented excerpts from three different streams” that were “heavily edited” and presented “without full context.” Thus, the fact-checking site determined the clip to be misleading.
“The portions taken from Mr. Piker’s October 2024 stream had been cropped, shortened, and rearranged,” Piker’s complaint points out. “The underlying debate was removed from view. So was the contemporaneous audience commentary. The words ‘He said,’ which identified the object of Mr. Piker’s ridicule, were omitted. Mr. Piker’s laughter and subsequent explanation were also removed. The resulting video portrayed sarcastic criticism of another as though it were an expression of Mr. Piker’s own beliefs.”
Piker is asking for compensatory damages of at least $27.5 million, plus punitive damages of $45 million. He’s also hoping to get his arguments before a jury.
