Hasan Piker’s legal team says it is considering further action against conservative pundits whom the streamer alleges have defamed him. The warning follows a $72.5 million lawsuit against CNN contributor Scott Jennings, filed last week, according to the report.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, Piker’s attorney, defamation specialist Daniel Watkins, said there is a “reckoning coming” and that other people and entities may be contacted by his firm in the coming days.
The lawsuit concerns a video montage Jennings presented on his Salem Media podcast on Aug. 11. Piker’s legal team says the edited clips were taken out of context and falsely suggested he advocated for lynchings. Jennings used the montage to urge Michigan voters to reject Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed because of his ties to Piker.
Watkins sent a formal retraction demand to Salem Media’s chief legal counsel, Christopher Henderson, in late August. After receiving no response, Piker filed suit seeking $27.5 million in compensatory damages and $45 million in punitive damages.
Piker told Vanity Fair that he had been “very deliberately anti-litigation” for a long time, but said that changed after people began making what he described as outright lies and defaming him. Watkins said the alleged misattributions had affected Piker’s career and raised safety concerns. Piker also cited reputational damage and said an individual had stalked him at a public event.
Piker identified former Republican National Committee chair Ronna McDaniel, who repeated the lynching claim on C-SPAN, and Sen. Ted Cruz, who reshared Jennings’ montage on X, as people he may pursue. After filing suit against Jennings, Piker addressed Cruz online, writing: “Hey Ted you seen this?” He also urged those who had made false claims about him to seek retractions.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter.