Streamer Hasan Piker Is Twitch’s Foremost Debate Lord

What is a “debate lord”? According to Twitch streamer Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker’s chat, it’s someone whose sole objective is to “win” an argument rather than facilitate a meaningful or productive dialogue.

That’s kinda-sorta what Piker’s upcoming live show, Debatelords, is all about. But instead of crashing out over, say, Haitian immigrants allegedly eating cats and dogs in Ohio, Piker’s guests will argue over things like “What’s the best cheese?” or “Is Five Guys a fast-food restaurant?” You know, the real questions plaguing every American. (By the way, no, Haitians aren’t eating cats or dogs in Ohio.)

Debatelords is a big deal for Piker. Considered by many to be the Amazon-owned livestreaming platform’s foremost Lord of Debate, Piker was a logical choice to produce a live show centered around what he does best. He regularly argues with his chatters on stream, whether that be about the latest political kerfuffle or something on the Internet. You can almost always guarantee that Piker will scream at his viewers for being dumb, for not listening, or for both. So, with Debatelords, he’s totally in his bag. Still, the popular political commentator is excited and nervous about hosting his first-ever IRL audience event at one of streaming’s largest conventions. Complex caught up with Piker to learn more about Debatelords.

(This interview has been edited for clarity.)

Complex: You have millions of followers across Twitch, Twitter, and TikTok. I'm sure Complex's audience is at least aware of who you are, but why don't you just give me a little bit of an introduction into Hasan Piker and what you’re all about?

Hasan Piker: Yeah. My name is Hasan Piker. My username on Twitch is HasanAbi. On Twitter, I’m hasanthehun. I am a Turkish-American political commentator in the United States of America, and I primarily cover American politics, culture, lifestyle, things of that nature. I also play video games from time to time and do massive fundraisers for a lot of the issues I speak to. I'm a leftist progressive—way to the left of the Democratic Party—and I would say I'm mostly disillusioned by both parties in our duopoly.

Complex: Yeah, totally relate. It's hard being politically minded or aware in this two-party system when neither party represents common folk. Let’s shift gears: Tell me about Debatelords. How did it come about, and this is the first-ever at TwitchCon, right?

HP: So, Twitch wanted to make original content and they wanted to do something that I do quite frequently, which is fundraise. They thought this would be a good avenue to do so, and we came up with the concept of a show—among many others—and went with this one, where it would be a debate show about silly things. We're raising money for Doctors Without Borders in the process, and donations are going to be a component throughout the show that will allow users to interact with the things that are happening.

You're going to be able to basically put hurdles against certain contestants by fundraising for said contestants or for other contestants, and we are going to be debating absolutely nothing at all. Nothing serious, nothing consequential, just silly things because I think ultimately debates are pseudo-intellectual sparring. It's not dissimilar to WWE, and I don't know if political debates are ultimately all that productive. I mean, it's good. It can be educational, but I don't think it's where people find out the truth of a matter. Rather, it's usually the side that is more rhetorically gifted that wins. So I wanted to use debates for its ultimate purpose: entertainment.

Complex: Obviously, you don't have to give me the full list of issues that will be debated, but what are some of the highlights or maybe some of the issues that you are looking forward to arguing over on Debatelords?

HP: I don't want to leak any topics. I don't want to give anybody who will be doing opposition research ahead of time because this is the premier debate program that everyone is excited for. But If I were to come up with some topics on the fly, something could potentially be tier-listing cheeses or tier-listing fast-food joints. Or even the age-old question: Is Five Guys in the fast-food category or not? They're neither fast, nor are they cheap. So, should they be considered fast food? That's an issue that I'm sure every single American has at some point thought about. That's the serious stuff that we're going to be talking about at Debatelords.

Complex: No, those are very serious, very hard-hitting issues that definitely impact the average American. I'm curious about the guests. You have AustinShow there, you have Will Neff. How did you decide on the people who will be debating at Debatelords?

HP: I wanted to look for the intellectual giants of our time on this platform, and that's who I came up with. But Austin and Will have so much experience in this field of doing live content. I've been a part of their Name Your Price show for quite a bit. So, I thought they would be perfect to help me host this event.

Complex: That makes sense. Are you a host and in the debate?

HP: No, I'm just hosting it. I'll not be a part of the debate, but the hosting component for me is going to be contentious with all the contestants. I'm dishing out points. I'm taking away points. I'm muting people, so I'll be duking it out with them as well. And yes, I will be abusing that power.

Complex: Yes, absolutely abuse that power. So, this is the first Debatelords at TwitchCon. Maybe you would like to do more. I guess it depends on how well it performs. What are the prospects of doing another one?

HP: I guess it's kind of up to me, in the sense that if I enjoy it. It's not like whether it's successful or not, it’s whether I enjoy doing it or not that I could probably put it on again. It doesn't have to be in front of an audience at all, either.

Complex: Are you excited about not just TwitchCon, but Debatelords as well? Give me your feelings on the event and this show.

HP: Yeah, I love TwitchCon. I love seeing a bunch of my friends that I haven't been able to see or that I only talk to online. I love seeing the fans, putting a face to all the names that you see in the chat. It's always a wonderful experience. And Debatelords is very exciting, too, because I have participated in live events many times over, but I've actually never thrown my own live event in front of an audience before. So, this is a big first for me on that front. I'm excited. We'll see how it goes. I'm a little nervous.

Complex: I'm excited for you, and I'm a big fan of your stream, so not that it means anything, but I don't think you have to be too nervous. I think you're going to do really, really well.

HP: I mean, even if I'm not, the beauty of an event like this is that I'm surrounded by professionals. The Twitch team of producers, the production team that Twitch is using for their live events, are great. They know how to throw on an amazing show. They know how to do it within the confines of Twitch, as well as in an organic way because a lot of professional companies that are traditionally media-trained love that on Twitch because the dynamic of the Twitch audience is very different.

So I'm confident that it will be a phenomenal product at the end of the day no matter what because of the team that's surrounding me and because of the people that are by my side. I have great guests that are going to be on that stage, and I have great guest hosts that are consummate professionals that have been doing this for quite a bit and have done it very well. So, I’m very excited about that.

Complex: Lastly, on Debatelords, it'll be live at TwitchCon. But if people aren’t there, how can someone watch it?

HP: It's going to be in front of a live audience, but it will also be live on my stream at twitch.tv/hasanabi.