Hasan Piker: a "himbo gateway drug" to the left?

It's Been a Minute

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🗓️ 1 August 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

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Summary

Not to be dramatic, but would you die for Hasan Piker?

For some of you, Hasan Piker needs no introduction. He is one of the leading voices in progressive political content online, boasting a massive 2.9 million followers on Twitch alone. He's polarizing, charismatic, and (kind of) a bro. And his fans love him. Just take this Instagram comment for example: "Not to be dramatic, but I'd die for this man lol."

With all the discourse about young men flocking to the political right because of online commentators like Joe Rogan and Theo Von, some have started asking if Piker is the Joe Rogan of the left? A fan on TikTok did refer to Piker as "the himbo gateway drug to leftist thought."

In this special episode, Brittany sits down with Hasan to get some perspective on what's going on with young men, and to find out what Hasan sees that the rest of us are missing.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for NPR and the following message comes from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
0:05.4	RWJF is a national philanthropy, working toward a future where health is no longer a privilege but a right.
0:12.1	Learn more at RWJF.org.
0:17.9	Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident.
0:37.2	All right, y'all, if you are a regular listener to this show, you know that for the past couple of years, I have been very interested in the state of masculinity.
0:45.4	We've talked about the rise of bro podcasting, the male loneliness crisis.
0:50.3	We've talked about male body image.
0:51.8	And there's one man that I think embodies all of these conversations.
0:55.0	Hassan Piker.
0:56.0	He's a hugely popular Twitch streamer who talks about progressive politics with his more than 2.9 million followers.
1:06.0	He's covered topics ranging from the war in Gaza to immigration and even the New York City mayoral race.
1:14.5	He also has hugely loyal fans.
1:17.5	Here's just some of the things that they say about him.
1:23.9	Sweeped the leg from Reddit says he is a hymbo-gateway drug to leftist thought.
1:28.7	Shaka 143 from TikTok says, tell him, Habiti.
1:36.8	And Lil Gay Ray, or Lil.gay.org on Instagram, says, not to be dramatic, but I die for this man, L.O.L.
1:41.6	The L.O.L, I think, is to take down the drama. Yeah. So, Hassan is sitting here with me. You know, Hassan, I think, is to take down the drama.
1:44.6	Yeah.
1:45.2	So Hassan is sitting here with me.
1:47.6	You know, Hassan, I don't know if I've ever heard the term Hymbo gateway drug before.
1:53.2	Is that something that you feel accurately describes you?
1:56.8	Yeah, I think I nails it, I guess.
	...

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