Hasan Piker, the socialist streamer long criticized for rhetoric that justifies violence by U.S.-designated terrorist groups and downplays atrocities, confirmed he will host Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate and DSA member Francesca Hong on an upcoming stream. The announcement, shared Friday by @Popstonox, highlights the elevating of socialist Hong and national far-left radical figures.
Piker’s latest controversy stems from federal investigations into his March 2026 trip to Cuba. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control issued administrative subpoenas to Piker and CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin as part of a broader investigation into whether U.S. activists and organizations violated sanctions by financing, coordinating, or delivering goods to Cuba’s communist regime and maintaining contacts with Cuban government entities. Republican lawmakers have publicly urged Treasury to press the investigation forward, while a Jewish advocacy group has called on the Justice Department to examine whether Piker acted as an unregistered agent for the Cuban regime.
The streamer has also faced intense backlash over animal welfare after a viral clip from one of his streams showed his dog, Kaya, yelping. Viewers alleged he activated a shock collar when the dog stepped off her designated mat or out of frame. PETA responded by calling shock collars “dangerous and downright cruel.” He has been accused of animal abuse, with the incident resurfacing amid broader questions about his character.
Piker’s past statements have included explicit support for groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah. He has said he has “no single issue with Hezbollah as a form of militancy trying to incur penalties on the genocidal state of Israel” and described Hamas as “a thousand times better than the fascist settler colonial apartheid state” of Israel. On the documented sexual violence during Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attacks, he stated, “It doesn’t matter if rape happened on October 7th. It doesn’t change the dynamic for me.” He has also faced renewed criticism for older comments stating America “deserved” the 9/11 attacks and for declaring he has “no ounce of patriotism in my heart.”
The collaboration arrives as Hong continues to navigate fallout from her own radical positions. She recently told a crowd she envisions “a perfect world” without prisons because “we all see the humanity in one another and then we know nobody’s disposable.” Hong has also faced criticism for resurfaced comments supporting the abolition of police departments and for suggesting the Wisconsin National Guard could be used to arrest ICE agents enforcing federal immigration law.
Piker’s partnership with Hong should be a wake-up call for moderates and center-right voters currently tuned out of the November election. Combined with his legal troubles and history of anti-Semitic, anti-American statements, it provides a stark illustration of the ideological company leading voices in Wisconsin’s Democrat primary keep. While the stream may energize Hong’s online base, it offers fresh evidence for critics who argue that Hong’s positions and association with Piker place her far outside the mainstream.
