Hasan Piker says he should have chosen his words more carefully when he declared in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11,” but the political streamer isn’t entirely retreating from the argument he was making at the time.
During an appearance on Mehdi Hasan’s podcast, Piker addressed the years-old remark after it resurfaced amid scrutiny of his involvement in Democratic politics.
“I said it in 2019, and you know if you listen to the full conversation, you very quickly understand what I’m talking about,” Piker said, according to The Hill. “I should have phrased things better.”
The original statement came during a 2019 Twitch broadcast.
“This is so insane. America deserved 9/11 dude, fuck it. I’m saying it,” Piker said at the time. “We totally brought it on ourselves.”
The Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks killed 2,977 victims after al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing two into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and another in Pennsylvania after passengers fought back.
Piker’s comments have followed him ever since, but their political relevance has increased because of his appearances with Abdulrahman Mohamed El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate in Michigan.
On the podcast, Piker apologized to people offended by the remark while also expressing frustration that Republicans have been able to use it against him.
“I apologize for those who I have offended, but most importantly, apologize for giving an opportunity to the right to just like use this against me,” Piker said.
That wording is likely to keep the controversy alive. It combines an acknowledgment that the original statement was badly phrased with regret over the political ammunition it provided his opponents.
El-Sayed has attempted to distance himself from the substance of Piker’s 9/11 comment without disavowing Piker himself.
“Of course it was a dumb statement and of course I think Hasan himself would say that was a dumb statement,” El-Sayed told NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
He also accused host Kristen Welker of engaging in “gotcha politics” and reviving “cancel culture” by focusing on the controversy.
Sen. Bernie Sanders has similarly criticized Piker’s statement while arguing that the streamer should remain welcome within a broad political coalition.
“I think that’s a dumb statement,” Sanders told CNN. “On the other hand, he has a whole lot of followers, and there are a lot of things that he’s saying that are making sense to a lot of people.”
Sanders added that “we need a big tent” and said people such as Piker should be welcome in it.
Piker’s podcast appearance wasn’t limited to revisiting 9/11. He also defended his use of insulting language toward political and ethnic groups, including derogatory descriptions of Israeli settlers and Republicans.
“I’ve called Republicans inbred hicks my whole life,” Piker said. “I call, you know, Nazis inbred. I call them pigs. You know all these different things. I’ve gotten banned for this.”
