The ABC is set to air the return of its Planet America program on Monday night as the US midterm elections gain steam, with a new episode featuring the leftwing commentator Hasan Piker.<\/p>\n
Host John Barron said the episode will focus on the \u201crise of Democratic socialists and the populist left\u201d, with Piker speaking about \u201cwhat it\u2019s like in the eye of a political storm\u201d. But the appearance quickly sparked the ire of conservatives in Australia.<\/p>\n
News Corp\u2019s News24 host James Morrow was deeply critical of the interview on Friday, wondering if there was \u201csomething in the water at the ABC\u2019s Ultimo HQ that makes them think they are immune to consequences\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the ABC wants to have this clown on their network, that\u2019s their business, but let them do it without our tax dollars,\u201d he challenged last week.<\/p>\n
Barron has urged critics to watch the appearance before casting judgment, saying he\u2019s not surprised that \u201csome of the usual suspects are outraged, OUTRAGED, that we would even speak to Piker\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike it or not, he\u2019s a central figure in the 2026 US election,\u201d Barron wrote on X. \u201cI was prepared to talk to Piker about his role in this election just as I was prepared to talk to @seanhannity about his role in the 2012 election \u2026 relevance.\u201d<\/p>\n
So who is Hasan Piker, and why does he have some in a tailspin?<\/p>\n
Streaming to millions<\/p>\n
Piker, 35, is an extremely popular figure in left-leaning politics in the US, with more than 3 million followers on Twitch and millions more on YouTube and Instagram. He streams on the internet nearly every day, sometimes for eight hours at a time, and has been heralded as a modern-day kingmaker for progressive Democrats.<\/p>\n
He has built a legion of fans<\/a> \u2013 many whom are young men \u2013 with regular discourse about American foreign policy, capitalism, his support for LGBTQ+ rights and for a willingness to heap criticism on the Democratic establishment. He\u2019s described himself as a \u201cmegaphone<\/a>\u201d, amplifying frustrations with \u201cestablishment liberalism\u201d, not as a change maker himself.<\/p>\n His readiness to champion progressive challengers over established figures has angered some top Democrats. He\u2019s also become a frequent target of the Murdoch empire in the US, with Fox News publishing running criticism of his commentary.<\/p>\n Streamer Hasan Piker has described himself as a \u2018megaphone\u2019. Photograph: AP<\/p>\n Piker\u2019s opinions are unfiltered and, at times, extreme. In 2019, as part of a broader critique of American foreign policy, he said the US \u201cdeserved\u201d the September 11 terrorist attacks (he later apologised for the remark). He\u2019s also a frequent and vocal critic of Israel\u2019s leadership and claimed he would \u201cvote for Hamas over Israel every single time\u201d. He maintains he\u2019s not antisemitic, but strongly against Zionism and the country\u2019s policy on the war in Gaza and Palestinians.<\/p>\n \u201cI have no issues getting vilified by people on the right. I love when my enemies hate me,\u201d he told the Guardian<\/a> in December. \u201cIt is what it is: they talk shit; what are you gonna do?\u201d<\/p>\n But Piker\u2019s comments have landed him in hot water. The British government banned him from entering the country<\/a> for a speaking engagement in June, saying at the time his presence \u201cmay not be conducive to the public good\u201d.<\/p>\n Complaints to ABC<\/p>\n Piker was last on the ABC in September to speak about the assassination of the conservative activist Charlie Kirk. The streamer spoke to Sarah Ferguson for 7.30, saying he was \u201chorrified\u201d at the killing, which came just weeks before the pair were set to debate each other.<\/p>\n The appearance prompted 68 complaints<\/a> to the ABC, with viewers suggesting the national broadcaster should not have platformed Piker \u201cas he is a far-left extremist\u201d and had made \u201cunsupported adverse claims about Mr Kirk\u2019s past remarks\u201d.<\/p>\n The ombudsman determined the appearance did not breach the ABC\u2019s editorial standards.<\/p>\n Ferguson also interviewed Trump kingmaker Steve Bannon<\/a> during the US president\u2019s first administration, which prompted its own criticism. The ABC did not have an ombudsman at the time.<\/p>\n Morrow wondered if Piker\u2019s latest appearance could lead to a similar outcome, pointing to the ABC bowing to criticism in recent weeks<\/a>.<\/p>\n The network\u2019s managing director, Hugh Marks, apologised to Gina Rinehart after airing a short documentary for its Race Around the World program that included crude and offensive comments about the mining billionaire. While the ABC ombudsman found it did not breach any editorial policies, Marks said it had fallen \u201cshort of community expectations\u201d and that the ABC would change its editorial guidance.<\/p>\n \u2018It makes sense to hear from him\u2019<\/p>\n Barron has defended the interview on X in recent days, saying Piker\u2019s position in American politics is more relevant than ever due to the surge in progressive Democrats.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s become a central figure in this year\u2019s election, it makes sense to hear from him,\u201d Barron wrote to a critic about Piker.<\/p>\n Barron said he had also interviewed Roger Stone, a longtime friend and ally of Trump who was sentenced to three years in prison<\/a> in 2020 before he was granted clemency<\/a> by the president.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you watch, I\u2019ll be interested to know if it confirms your concerns or overcomes them,\u201d he went on. \u201cEither way, we choose guests of all stripes based on interest and relevance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The ABC is set to air the return of its Planet America program on Monday night as the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":858352,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-858351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=858351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/858351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/858352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=858351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=858351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=858351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}