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

Progressive commentator Hasan Piker has filed a $72.5 million defamation lawsuit against conservative commentator Scott Jennings, alleging that Jennings aired a manipulated video to falsely suggest Piker supports the lynching of Black people.

The 38-page complaint was filed Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C. It centers on an Aug. 11 episode of "The Scott Jennings Show," during which Jennings played footage from a 2024 livestream of Piker's show. Piker contends the footage had been doctored.

"Mr. Jennings did not merely mischaracterize something Mr. Piker said," the complaint states. "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."

On the broadcast, Jennings, who is also a CNN commentator, called Piker a "radical socialist streamer" and described Piker as the "best friend" of Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Michigan. Jennings said Piker had been "calling for Black voters to be lynched." In a social media post, Jennings wrote: "Listen for yourself and understand what the socialists have in store for the black community."

The complaint rejects those claims. "Mr. Piker has never advocated the lynching of Black Americans, or anyone else," it states. "He has never called for a return to lynchings. And he has never proposed anything remotely resembling the supposed plan that Mr. Jennings falsely attributed to him."

According to the filing, the video combined clips from three separate Twitch livestreams and rearranged the order of Piker's remarks. It includes Piker making sarcastic comments about returning "to a better time when lynchings were happening." The complaint says the video's creators cut out the context: an Oct. 29, 2024, YouTube debate between two Black political commentators, one liberal and one conservative, to which Piker was reacting. "Mr. Piker was mocking the conservative commentator's statement," the complaint states. "Mr. Piker obviously was not expressing support for the Ku Klux Klan, lynching, or racial discrimination."

Piker's lawyers say they sent Jennings' attorneys a written demand for a retraction in August. Jennings' legal team acknowledged receiving the letter and said a response would follow, but the complaint says no "substantive response" has been issued. As of Wednesday, the post containing the allegedly doctored video remained on X and had drawn three million views.

The complaint also suggests Jennings had motives beyond the political fight in Michigan. Beyond undermining El-Sayed's support among Black voters, it says, Jennings had a "professional and political incentive" to smear Piker, noting that Jennings was publicly reported to be under consideration for White House press secretary in the weeks around the publications.

Piker is seeking $27.5 million in compensatory damages and $45 million in punitive damages. Piker has more than 3.1 million followers on Twitch, 2 million subscribers on YouTube and roughly 1.9 million followers on Instagram. Piker has campaigned for several Democratic candidates but remains a controversial figure within the party, and several Jewish organizations have accused Piker of promoting antisemitic tropes and downplaying the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel.

Jennings did not immediately respond to a request for comment from NBC News.