Hasan Piker Sues Scott Jennings for Defamation Over Lynching Clip; Piker Also Appears With Omar

Twitch streamer Hasan Piker filed a defamation lawsuit Tuesday in federal court in Washington, D.C., against commentator Scott Jennings, seeking more than $72 million, reported as $72.5 million. The complaint says Jennings used a false, fabricated and manipulated video to claim Piker wants to bring back the lynching of Black Americans. It calls the accusation calculated to provoke outrage. Variety reported that Jennings played a mashup of Piker clips on his own podcast on Aug. 11, and that Piker says a quote was misconstrued to sound like an endorsement of lynchings. Jennings is a CNN commentator.

Piker was also in the news over a Monday campaign event in Minnesota that he co-hosted with Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn. There he called Republicans terrorists, and Omar called the GOP the "pedophile protection party." Fox News Digital said it questioned Piker at the Minneapolis-Saint Paul airport afterward. It noted a raid on Omar's Washington home amid investigations into alleged immigration fraud and financial disclosure discrepancies.

Left-leaning Raw Story leads with the lawsuit, citing Bloomberg Law, and calls Jennings's claim racially charged, with the dollar figure and the court in its opening. Deadline and Variety, the independent outlets, report essentially the same suit. Right-leaning Fox News and the Daily Wire do not mention the lawsuit in the portions provided. Their headlines focus on Omar and Piker's remarks. Fox calls Piker a far-left streamer and Omar's ally, and stresses the raid on her home, the two investigations and El-Sayed's backlash. The Daily Wire calls him a left-wing radical and quotes his comments on migrants and Republicans, noting his earlier statement that America deserved 9/11. All sides cover Piker, but the left covers him as the plaintiff and the right as a political figure.