Emily Tamkin: Can Hasan Piker be deplatformed?

Hasan Piker, a left-wing provocateur with millions of digital subscribers, injected himself back into the news cycle after appearing alongside writer Jia Tolentino to discuss the ethics of stealing food from big-box grocery stores in the New York Times. Those who keep tabs on the world's most vocal anti-Zionists will recognize Piker's name—he's been called out by the ADL and other Jewish activists for veering into flippant antisemitism, including calling Orthodox Jews "inbred" and calling Zionism a "mental illness". Due to these and other extreme positions, mainstream Jewish organizations would like to silence, or deplatform, Piker in much the same way that extreme right-wing internet activists have been. (See: Nick Fuentes, Alex Jones, et al.) But there's a problem: Hasan Piker isn't just popular, he's becoming mainstream. He has been featured in the New York Times several times before this shoplifting conversation, and he's beginning to join politicians who are soliciting his assistance on the campaign trail. This is more than just millions of subscribers on Twitch and YouTube, and it's a level beyond what Fuentes and Jones ever achieved. So what do you do with a problem like Hasan Piker? Emily Tamkin tried to parse the issue in a recent article in the Forward, "American Jews have a Hasan Piker problem. Solving it is going to hurt". She joins Phoebe Maltz Bovy to dig into the issue on this week's episode of The Jewish Angle. Credits Host: Phoebe Maltz Bovy Producer and editor: Michael Fraiman Music: " Gypsy Waltz " by Frank Freeman, licensed from the Independent Music Licensing Collective Support our show Subscribe to The CJN newsletter Donate to The CJN (+ get a charitable tax receipt) Subscribe to The Jewish Angle