The Stream is Up

Endless Thread

WBUR

Reddit, Technology

4.2 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 14 March 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Every day, seven days a week, for eight hours or more, Hasan Piker is live on the video game streaming platform Twitch. This is where he shares his political commentary with a dedicated community of viewers — many of whom fall into a particularly sought-after electoral demographic: young men.

One of the dominant theories about the re-election of President Donald Trump in November 2024 was that it was aided by commentators like Piker: brash and bro-y. But Piker is a Socialist, considerably to the left of the mainstream Democratic Party. He gets into streamer beefs, but he also talks a lot about empathy and bringing a spirit of charitability to political discourse. What kind of affect does he have on his community and their political activism? Who's tuning in 50 hours a week to get their news from one guy (spoiler: it's not just twentysomething men), and really — who's that guy?

Endless Thread talks to Hasan Piker and his fans.

Credits: This episode was written by Ben Brock Johnson and co-hosted by Ben Brock Johnson and Amory Sivertson. It was reported and produced by Grace Tatter. Mix and sound design by Paul Vaitkus.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for this podcast comes from Tanglewood. Join the BSO, the Boston Pops, and incredible guest artists for unforgettable performances under the stars at Tanglewood. It's the perfect getaway to enjoy world-class music and make lifelong memories. Plan your visit at tanglewood.org.
0:19.0	Support for this podcast comes from Is Business Broken, a podcast from
0:23.5	BU Questrum School of Business.
0:25.6	Stick around until the end of this podcast for a preview of a recent episode about
0:30.1	how to fairly compensate workers.
0:33.7	WBUR Podcasts, Boston.
0:41.1	Thank you. WBUR Podcasts, Boston. Just about a year ago, America's extremely online fell in love with a celebrity.
0:47.5	People are into this Timahuthi-Shalameh.
0:49.5	They say he's a hootie, a fighter, he's hot, they say it looks like Salome.
0:53.9	Yes, not incredibly skinny Bob Dylan it looks like Shalamey. Yes.
0:54.9	Not incredibly skinny Bob Dylan impersonator Timothy Shalame.
0:59.3	Tim Houthi Shalame.
1:01.6	The apparent origin story video for Tim Houthi Shalame was pretty unremarkable on the surface.
1:14.2	Just a guy with curly dark hair steering a small boat with one hand and holding his phone in
1:20.3	selfie mode with the other.
1:22.5	A light blue skiff bathed in the sun.
1:25.3	Very mindful, very demure.
1:29.9	A much bigger ship hulking in the background with big white lettering that said galaxy leader. This was 33 seconds of honestly not that much.
1:38.5	But then, like that, this video had 13 million views. Because, I mean, look at him. Okay, I don't understand why people
1:47.5	obsess over actor Timothy Shalamee either, but Tim Huthy Shalameh's celebrity was in some ways an
1:54.8	example of a new way that people are consuming news and information. Coming at it kind of sideways.
2:01.5	At least, that was true for me.
	...

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