PA-12:Summer Lee says she condemns 'all forms of hate' while defending controversial decision to appear with Hasan Piker

[RandySF]

U.S. Rep. Summer Lee is getting heat for a planned campaign appearance alongside Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, a political commentator who’s been accused of antisemitism and anti-American sentiment on multiple occasions.

Lee, a progressive Democrat who represents part of the Pittsburgh region – including Squirrel Hill, seen by many as the center of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community – was scheduled to appear alongside Piker at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan on Tuesday at rallies for U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed.

Piker, a streamer and political commentator, has been in the spotlight recently for his previous comments regarding Hamas, the Oct. 7 attacks, 9/11 and more. His more inflammatory comments include saying that “America deserved 9/11,” responding to one of his listeners who condemned the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, with “Bloodthirsty violent pig dog, suck my dick,” and also said “It doesn’t matter if rape happened on October 7th. It doesn’t change the dynamic for me.”

Amid the controversy, Democratic officials have found themselves on the back foot, trying to explain why they are agreeing to make appearances with him – and Lee is no exception.



https://www.cityandstatepa.com/politics/2026/04/summer-lee-says-she-condemns-all-forms-hate-while-defending-controversial-decision-appear-hasan-piker/412692/?oref=cspa-skybox-hp

[SSJVegeta]

1. I like how the press is obsessed with this but doesnt see it a big deal an actual self nazi dined with trump

[RandySF]

2. Piker and the Nazi both suck.

[SSJVegeta]

11. Piker isnt nearly comparable to a nazi

The worst thing he said doesnt even compare to "women should be put in gulags" and their voting rights taken away

[EdmondDantes_]

15. He has said even if there were rapes as part of the Oct 7 attacks it changes nothing in his mind

I'm not drawing much of a distinction between shrugging his shoulders at rape and the horrible violence on Oct 7 with gulags where women are raped and subject to horrible violence.

Then there's his praise for the Chinese government who is putting people in gulags as part of an ongoing genocide.

[SSJVegeta]

16. Again. None of that is the same as "lets lock up an entire gender and kill all the Jews."

Not even remotely. Also not sure if there is anything worse than "I love Hitler"


And yes. There is absolutely a distinction between that and dismissing (or even endorsing) the status quo.

[EdmondDantes_]

46. I can't buy into that

I don't think you get x number of rapes as a planned thing just because they could have done more. Piker isn't worth tossing my morals overboard.

[SSJVegeta]

48. Genocide of millions is the same as indiscrminate rape and murder of 100s?

...regardless of scale?


Understanding proportiinality and acknowledging that 100,000 dead is worse than 100s dead, isnt throwing away your morals.

You can acknowledge one thing is bad while also realizing the other is much, much worse

[AStern]

22. I like Piker and I'm glad he annoys conservatives

nt

[Cha]

26. I hate Piker and I'm not a "conservative".

[AStern]

27. Who's forcing you to listen to him?

He's not even popular offline.

[Cha]

36. Piker's a Rape Apologist.

“It doesn’t matter if rape happened on October 7th. It doesn’t change the dynamic for me.”

And, Piker... "We deserved 9/11"... No fuckhead... Those People who Perished did Not deserve to be killed.

[AStern]

38. Netanyahu LIHOP

to stay out of jail and get Trump elected.

Go on about Piker all you want.

[electric_blue68]

49. As someone who in 80-81 worked on the 73rd Flr Northeast corner of South Tower 2 for...

NYS. The views were *amazing*. Saw the debris cloud from Brooklyn that horrific morning, had the firesmoke cloud pass high above our neighborhood for ?1+ day, and visited the site many times.... [we were very lucky, we had 2 near misses as far as people we knew who could have been in the buildings that day].
I'd metaphorically smack the crap outta who ever this A-hat is!

[Cha]

50. I can only imagine, electric_blues, how NYC People

Felt when the Tragic Horror happened on that Tuesday morning on 9/11. They did NOT "deserve" it as Piker claims

I was living in Little Falls, NY at the time, and happened to be watching the Today show... I couldn't believe it... So Horrific and Tragic, and More to come.

I went to run... just thinking about the Poor People in the Towers.. and then little did we know at the time. But so many would die in Iraq... Iraqis and the American Soldiers.. all because of bush Lies.

💔☮️🌻🕯️🕊️💜

[RandySF]

28. You like that he doesn't care about the Oct 7 rapes?

[AStern]

30. Are you talking about the Israeli soldiers that have been doing that?

OMG! You mean you don't care?

[Cha]

40. See what I mean... always trying to

change the subject... cannot address what Piker is.

[AStern]

42. He's not for Benjamin Netanyahu and his religious extremist government.

You cannot possibly support that.

[SunImp]

10. I wonder if they were this outraged when Gavin Newsom interviewed Bannon, Shapiro, Charlie Kirk, etc

[AStern]

24. This astroturf campaign is designed to silence the left

nt

[RandySF]

29. Are you saying I'm phony?

[AStern]

33. Not you. There is a campaign going on about him though.

I guess you've just bought into it.

[RandySF]

34. He said what he said.

It's all out there on the record.

[RandySF]

39. So we're going to ignore the people who actually did it?

[AStern]

41. No, Netanyahu should face justice for allowing an attack that he already knew was going to happen.

It's awful.

[JBTaurus83]

3. But everyone can appear raising money with Naziyahoo

Who has literal fascists in his cabinet and kills children. The fake outrage stuff gets tiring from both sides.

[RandySF]

7. Piker is still a creep.

[AStern]

25. All this is doing is making him more popular

it's as if this is an ad campaign promoting him.

[Cha]

32. Yeah as much as the subject is

trying to be changed... Piker is still a fucking Rape Apologist.

“It doesn’t matter if rape happened on October 7th. It doesn’t change the dynamic for me.”

And, Piker... "We deserved 9/11"... No fuckhead... Those Heroes who Perished did Not deserve to be killed.

[leftstreet]

14. +1

[EdmondDantes_]

5. I get there's legal reasons and disputes about what is antisemitic, but saying he's accused seems silly

[mcar]

6. I like her but a big mistake on her part

[AZProgressive]

8. I'm not sure why Piker is a big deal or suddenly becoming a litmus test for Democrats

As he is Cenk's nephew I never paid much attention to him but his target audience tends to be younger. I consider a lot of media figures either to the left or to the right of Piker.

I say this as someone who watched only 1 video of his which was when he was debunking the right wing conspiracies regarding the Somali-American community in Minneapolis before ICE killed & injured civilians there in the city.

I have a feeling this has more to do with primaries. If someone wants to reach a large young online audience it is likely a politician such as Summer Lee may appear on his show which isn't a dealbreaker for me personally.

[SunImp]

9. I wonder if they were this outraged when Gavin Newsom interviewed Bannon, Shapiro, Charlie Kirk etc

[FiveFifteen]

12. And your clearly stated point is?

False equivalence is the strength of idiots.

Who the fuck would ever stand with this moron?

It is that simple.

[SunImp]

13. I'd still vote for Newsome, Summer Lee, Mamdani, etc

They're just trying to expand their audience or understand people's points of view. I personally don't like it when politicians interview controversial people or go on fox news/rogan, but maybe this can be one way to expand our reach.

[FiveFifteen]

18. Good point

Thanks.

[MichMan]

17. There is a difference between being interviewed on his show and appearing with him at campaign rallies

[FiveFifteen]

19. Bullseye

Anyone who thinks it is acceptable for a campaign rally shouldn’t complain when Fuentes or his trash ilk appear with Rs.

[AZProgressive]

20. I don't view Hasan Piker as some sort of extremist

He is just 1 of many political commentators that are on the internet.

I Watched Right-Wing Journalists Try to Shame Abdul El-Sayed and Hasan Piker

Hundreds of Michiganders waited in long lines in the cold for Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s rallies with Hasan Piker at two universities.

Zeteo was inside those rallies, where the national reporters who traveled to Michigan for the events seemed extremely puzzled as to why the progressive politician would choose to campaign with the popular leftist Twitch streamer – and they were intently focused on Israel.

“Hasan, do you feel like your presence on the campaign trail may hurt the candidates that you’re supporting more than help them?” a Fox News reporter asked. Another reporter asked El-Sayed what he would say to people who attend a local synagogue that was the site of a foiled terrorist attack, and are “concerned now about you campaigning with Hasan.”

(snip)

You would never know from the reports that El-Sayed’s rallies were, in fact, focused around affordability, getting money out of politics and into people’s pockets, and securing Medicare for All. Nor would you know that El-Sayed’s decision to invite Piker to his rallies at the University of Michigan and Michigan State University has been a big boon for his campaign.

https://zeteo.com/p/abdul-el-sayed-hasan-piker-michigan-senate-media

Again, it doesn't make sense for it to be a litmus test for Democrats to condemn Hasan Piker. Especially with everything else going on in the world.

[AStern]

23. It's the third way that's making it a big deal.

This is an astro-turf campaign to shut up the left.

[AStern]

21. The Piker backlash is a conservative third way astro-turf campaign

How sad that so many are falling for it.

All you're doing is making him more popular.

Abundance if you will.

[RandySF]

31. He sucks. Period. I don't care what anyone else thinks about him.

[AStern]

35. You do care

or you wouldn't have responded.

Having said that, he's not as popular as you're implying and no one is forcing you to listen to him.

[LuvLoogie]

43. If Establishment Dems (EDs) and their traditional

funding organizations feel pressure from a woke generation of voters, those EDs have only themselves to blame. The woke see the history, news from afar, current behavior of the power elite.

It's predictable that groups like AIPAC may be going the way of the NRA, . Traditional media and talking heads spew a lot of bullshit, at least as much as any given podcaster.

The EDs did to David Hogg what they are trying to do to this young man, what they tried to do to AOC.

[Cha]

44. What does that have to do with Piker

being a Rape Apologist?

There are no Excuses.

“It doesn’t matter if rape happened on October 7th. It doesn’t change the dynamic for me.”

And, Piker... "We deserved 9/11"... No fuckhead... Those People who Perished did Not deserve to be killed.

[MichMan]

45. Some don't think those comments are extreme at all

Post #20 for example

[Cha]

47. I know..

... It's more than "extreme"... It's tragic. Not only were the women at the Peace festival raped they were burchered and murdered. . 💔

[W_HAMILTON]

51. David Hogg couldn't beat a young progressive black man that put in the work...

...so Hogg decided to drop out rather than lose.

You attract more flies with honey than with shit. Not a smart move to constantly shit on the people whose votes you need, but doing so and then crying about the terrible horrible no good very bad Establishment -- dun dun dun! -- sure has proven lucrative for these more-performative-than-productive types.

[tulipsandroses]

52. I wonder how many of these people condemning Summer Lee thought it was a good idea for Kamala to appear on Rogan

Can’t have it both ways. Rogan is a bigoted transphobe, yet so many had no problem with VP Harris doing his show, in fact many see her not going as a one of the reasons she lost.