Twitch streamer Hasan Piker has filed a $72 million defamation lawsuit against CNN political commentator Scott Jennings.
According to the complaint obtained by USA TODAY (which was filed in the District of Columbia on Oct. 27), Jennings played a manipulated video on "The Scott Jennings Show" in August that included false quotes to accuse Piker of calling for the lynching of Black people.
The complaint reads, "He falsely told his listeners that Mr. Piker had a ‘plan of returning our country to lynchings,'" and it includes allegations that Jennings "falsely told his social media followers that Mr. Piker ‘says the USA should resume lynchings against Black people.’”
The complaint goes on to say, "Mr. Jennings did not merely mischaracterize something
Mr. Piker said," before adding, "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.”
Piker addressed the lawsuit in a recent stream, where he read the Bloomberg Law article that broke the news and said, "This is not just about Scott Jennings, although he certainly messed up." He added, "This is about truth in the media. I don't think you should be able to get away with lying like this."
Hasan Piker officially announced that he is suing Scott Jennings for 72 million dollars. It's about time:
— adri ♡ (@socialistadri) October 27, 2026
"This is not just about Scott Jennings, although he certainly messed up. This is about truth in the media. I don't think you should be able to get away with lying like… pic.twitter.com/bU77h1YHO5
USA TODAY has reached out to a representative for Jennings.
Piker has made national headlines for his political commentary, including his criticism of Israel for the war in Gaza and his vocal support of left-wing candidates across the country, including Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed. Jennings, a conservative political commentator for CNN since 2017, is known for his frequent defense of President Donald Trump.
In a statement to USA TODAY, Daniel Watkins, a founding partner of the firm representing Piker, says, "Scott Jennings accused Hasan Piker of calling for Black Americans to be lynched. That is an extraordinary accusation. And it was a lie."
He continues, "Jennings took a manipulated video, put words in Hasan’s mouth that he never spoke, and then held those words up as proof of something Hasan never said or believed. There is something especially disgraceful about exploiting this country’s history of racial terror to destroy another man’s reputation. Scott Jennings has every right to disagree with Hasan Piker."
The statement ends with, "He has no right to invent what Hasan said. We brought this case because the truth matters, reputation matters, and there comes a point when lying must have consequences.”
Piker's lawyers argue in the complaint that the doctored video played for Jennings' audience included clips from a 2024 livestream that were "cropped, shortened, and rearranged." The complaint alleges that during the livestream, Piker was "sarcastically" mocking a political pundit's arguments rather than sharing his own opinions.
"The underlying debate was removed from view. So was the contemporaneous audience commentary. The words ‘He said,’ which identified the object of Mr. Piker’s ridicule, were omitted," the complaint also reads. "Mr. Piker’s laughter and subsequent explanation were also removed. The resulting video portrayed sarcastic criticism of another as though it were an expression of Mr. Piker’s own beliefs.”
The Twitch streamer is seeking $27.5 million in compensatory damages and $45 million in punitive damages.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Twitch streamer Hasan Piker slams CNN's Scott Jennings with $72M defamation lawsuit
