Left-wing influencer Hasan Piker filed a defamation lawsuit against conservative commentator Scott Jennings for posting a video clip that gives the impression that Mr. Piker supports lynchings.
The lawsuit stems from an August podcast in which Mr. Jennings played a clip of Mr. Piker saying the country should go back to a “better time when lynchings were happening.”
Mr. Jennings, a frequent contributor on CNN, held up the clip to warn Black voters about Mr. Piker’s supposed endorsement of the practice.
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The lawsuit said the clip of Mr. Piker clearly depicted him mocking another person’s argument when shown in proper context, and Mr. Jennings was intentionally slandering the streamer.
“Mr. Jennings did not merely mischaracterize something Mr. Piker said,” the complaint reads. “He took a false, fabricated, and manipulated video of Mr. Piker, added a made-up quotation that Mr. Piker never uttered, and then made accusations that went beyond even what the manipulated footage purported to show.”
Mr. Piker is seeking more than $72 million in damages.
The original clip used by Mr. Jennings came from an October 2024 livestream in which Mr. Piker commented on a debate between two Black political figures, one of whom was liberal and the other was conservative.
The lawsuit said Mr. Piker was reacting sarcastically about the conservative participant wanting to bring back lynchings because the debater had criticized progressive prosecutors.
“He said, ‘We need more Klansmen, OK? Can we go back to a better time when lynchings were happening?’” Mr. Piker said during the stream in response to the commentator’s argument.
Under the law, Mr. Piker would be required to show that Mr. Jennings acted with reckless disregard for the truth with his statements. The statue further requires Mr. Piker to demonstrate that Mr. Jennings’ remarks were not just the defendant’s opinions, but provably false statements.
“Mr. Jennings was not simply expressing an opinion,” the lawsuit states. “He was falsely asserting that Mr. Piker had advocated racial violence against Black Americans.”
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