Leftist streamer Hasan Piker is demanding at least $72.5 million from conservative commentator Scott Jennings, filing a defamation suit Tuesday over a segment in which Jennings said Piker had called for lynchings.
During a Tuesday livestream, Piker said the lawsuit is “not just about Scott Jennings.”
“I think for far too long we have allowed Republicans to get away with saying whatever they want,” Piker said.
The complaint, which Piker filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., seeks at least $27.5 million in compensatory damages and $45 million in punitive damages from the CNN contributor.
At issue is an August episode of Jennings’ radio show, in which Jennings said Piker was “out there calling for Black voters to be lynched,” according to the filings.
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Piker argues that the 42-second compilation, first posted to social media by the National Republican Senatorial Committee and later aired by Jennings, presented sarcastic remarks as his actual views.
During a livestream in October 2024, Piker reacted to a debate between two black political commentators. After the conservative debater blamed “woke DAs” for policies he said were hurting black Americans, Piker paused the video and said, according to the complaint:
He said, “We need more Klansmen, okay? Can we go back to a better time when lynchings were happening? This is what I like as a Black man. Also, there’s no real racism in America.” My man said, “woke DAs,” dude. What are you saying?
The video Jennings aired and later posted to X omits the words “he said” and Piker’s subsequent laughter, the lawsuit claims. The complaint also alleges that Jennings added the on-screen caption, “Let’s go back to a better time when lynchings were happening,” wording Piker’s lawyers say he never used in the 2024 livestream.
Piker has previously mocked black conservatives, including in an August 2024 video titled “Black conservatives are ridiculous.” Piker said he has “never met a black conservative that doesn’t telegraph that they are a black conservative.”
He has also used the N-word during appearances on “The Young Turks,” the show co-founded by his uncle, Cenk Uygur. The Washington Free Beacon reported that one such instance occurred while Piker was discussing a Justice Department investigation into Baltimore police officers’ use of racial slurs.
Piker’s complaint concedes he is “an admittedly controversial commentator,” but maintains that he has never advocated lynching anyone.
As a public figure, Piker must meet the “actual malice” standard to prevail on his defamation claims, proving that Jennings knew he was making false statements on his show or recklessly disregarded whether they were true.
