Many streamers have recently found success on Twitch since many people were forced to stay home looking for more content to pass the time. These Twitch streamers, such as Hasan Piker, have gained a huge following because of this and are now making a very comfortable living.
Piker was the former host of a political commentary channel called The Young Turks. Today, he goes by HasanAbi on Twitch and streams video game content, and has political discussions with his followers. As a self-identified leftist and socialist, HasanAbi consistently centered many of his discussions around workplace democracy and equally distributing the wealth.
While his ideals normally bode well with his audience, many of his followers are now angered after he bought a $2.7 million home in Los Angeles, coming off as a hypocrite in their eyes since he strongly advocates for socialism. And now what started as another case of Twitch streamer controversy has escalated to a potentially dangerous situation after HasanAbi posted that he received death threats yesterday on Twitter.
Before the threats, Piker had been very coy about the situation by sharing memes and comedically poking holes in these angry people's arguments. Piker even made the point earlier that the housing market is currently inflated in Los Angeles, and $3 million is not that insane of a price for housing. Then, he states that people were going to be mad at him no matter how expensive his house was going to be. Now, he has stated that he never intended to let the situation get so out of control to the point that it would become a dangerous situation for the Twitch streamer.
Many fans, and other content creators such as Noel Miller, have also come to his defense on Twitter to share their support. One user stated that being a socialist does not automatically mean people have to be poor for the rest of their life and never buy a house. It just means that they should not greedily support a capitalist system and exploit other people, all of which Piker has never done.
Hopefully, these threats never escalate into an actual incident, and HasanAbi and the people closest to him remain safe. Some fans have even given the Twitch streamer advice about looking for a professional real estate agent to discreetly buy housing in the future and avoid this situation from happening again. Of course, everyone is allowed to have their opinion on the matter, but it is never okay to go out and threaten anyone over them.