Hasan Piker Sues Scott Jennings for $72.5 Million Over Doctored Video

Hasan Piker is seeking $72.5 million in damages from conservative commentator Scott Jennings over a video clip that Piker says was digitally altered to suggest he supported the lynching of Black people. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C.

The complaint details that Jennings aired the footage on his show on Aug. 11. Piker’s legal team asserts the video combined segments from three separate 2024 Twitch livestreams and rearranged the order of Piker’s remarks. The complaint states that editors removed a key context: Piker was reacting to a Oct. 29, 2024, YouTube debate between two Black political commentators, one liberal and one conservative. Piker’s team argues he was mocking the conservative commentator’s statement, not endorsing it.

Jennings described Piker during the broadcast as a radical socialist streamer and a close ally of Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed. He claimed Piker had been calling for Black voters to be lynched. Jennings posted a video to social media with the caption, Listen for yourself and understand what the socialists have in store for the black community. As of Wednesday, that post had accumulated three million views on the platform X.

The complaint notes that Piker’s lawyers sent a written demand for a retraction to Jennings’ legal team in August. Jennings’ representatives acknowledged receipt of the letter but have not issued a substantive response. Jennings, who also appears on CNN, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.

Piker is asking for $27.5 million in compensatory damages and $45 million in punitive damages. He is a major social media presence with more than 3.1 million followers on Twitch, 2 million on YouTube, and roughly 1.9 million on Instagram. The complaint suggests Jennings had a professional and political incentive to target Piker, noting that Jennings was publicly reported to be under consideration for the White House Press Secretary position in the weeks before the video aired.

The lawsuit argues the defamation undermined El-Sayed’s support among Black voters in Michigan. Piker remains a controversial figure within the Democratic Party, having campaigned for several candidates while facing accusations from Jewish organizations of promoting antisemitic tropes and downplaying the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. The complaint emphasizes that Piker never advocated for lynching or proposed a plan resembling the one Jennings attributed to him.