By Editor,Nicholas Comino
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Hasan Piker was interviewed by Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7:30
READ MORE: ABC star left stunned by admission from ANZ bank
By NICHOLAS COMINO, NEWS REPORTER, AUSTRALIA
Published: 06:18 BST, 18 September 2025 | Updated: 06:34 BST, 18 September 2025
The ABC has been slammed by a leading Jewish activist for its decision to air an interview with controversial left-wing commentator Hasan Piker on its flagship current affairs program, 7.30.
Piker has sparked widespread criticism for a series of comments, including that ‘America deserved 9/11’ and his thoughts on landlords – ‘kill them, murder them, let the streets soak in their red capitalist blood’ – that he later said were ‘insincere’.
Host, veteran journalist Sarah Ferguson, spoke to Piker on Wednesday evening about the recent assassination of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk, who was shot dead during a speaking event at a university campus on September 10.
Piker had been scheduled to debate Kirk later that month, which he said made his opponent’s violent death ‘even more real’.
Ferguson grilled Piker about America’s toxic political culture and his history of divisive comments that had sparked a series of ‘escalating’ death threats.
But the ABC’s decision to interview Piker sparked controversy, with Dvir Abramovich, the chairman of the Anti-Defamation Commission, describing it as handing ‘a national, taxpayer-funded platform’ to a man who spreads ‘extremist’ ideology.
‘There are times when you wonder if we’ve lost our moral compass,’ he said.
‘By putting Hasan Piker on air, ABC TV has justified the atrocities of October 7, downplayed the sexual violence of that day, voiced support for Hezbollah and the Houthis, and once declared that ‘America deserved 9/11.’
ABC host Sarah Ferguson (pictured) was criticised for omitting Piker’s controversial remarks
Hasan Piker (pictured) previously voiced support for terror groups, such as the Houthis and Hamas. He was interviewed on the ABC’s flagship program on Wednesday night
‘This is not edgy commentary. This is extremism, streamed to millions of impressionable young people.’
Ferguson asked Piker – who has more than three million followers on the live-streaming platform Twitch – about a resurfaced post he made about killing and murdering landlords unwilling to rent out their properties.
‘I don’t know the context of these particular statements,’ Ferguson said, ‘but doesn’t that make you part of the problem with violent discourse?’
Piker dismissed the quote as hyperbolic and insincere, claiming it was part of a private conversation he had with a landlord friend.
‘It’s not a real policy that I would ever advocate for,’ he said. ‘It was obviously LARPing, (live action roleplaying) an insincere statement from 2018’.
Ferguson pressed further: ‘Doesn’t that kind of language contribute to the atmosphere of violence, even lethal violence in the United States?’
Piker responded: ‘I don’t believe that my insincere statements that don’t reflect any of my beliefs whatsoever in 2019 have led to any sort of real-world violence’.
But critics said Ferguson had failed to confront Piker on other pressing issues, including when he said the US ‘deserved 9/11’ in 2020 and his comments regarding the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians.
Piker’s 2020 remark that ‘America deserved 9/11’, made while mocking war veteran Congressman Dan Crenshaw, led to him being temporarily suspended from Twitch
Left-wing commentator Hasan Piker (pictured) was interviewed by Australian journalist Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7:30 program on Wednesday evening
ABC star Sarah Ferguson left stunned by admission about ANZ bank
In a May 2024 livestream, Piker said, ‘It doesn’t matter if f***ing rapes happened on October 7. It doesn’t change the dynamic [of Palestinians and Israelis] for me’.
He previously referred to reports of sexual violence as ‘rape fantasies’ and ‘rape hallucinations,’ and was criticised by human rights advocates.
Dr Abramovich said the ABC’s failure to confront these statements was a betrayal of its duty to the Australian public.
‘It wasn’t just that Piker was interviewed,’ he told Daily Mail.
‘It’s that he was treated as credible, granted legitimacy without a serious reckoning with his appalling statements. For Jewish Australians, it was another wound and proof that their pain can still be diminished on our national stage.
‘Public broadcasters have a higher duty. They are not just platforms. The ABC has a responsibility not to normalise extremism, not to launder the reputation of a man who has openly defended groups our allies and partners call terrorists.
‘Australia is better than this. Our public broadcaster should be better than this.’
Charlie Kirk was shot dead in front of over 3,000 people at a university campus in Utah on September 10. Piker was due to debate the right-wing commentator later this month
More recently, Piker drew criticism for his interview with Rashid Al Haddad, a Yemeni social media figure who gained notoriety in late 2023 for posting videos aboard ships hijacked by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea.
The Houthis, also known as Ansar Allah, are categorised as a terrorist group in Australia and are backed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
The group was proscribed by the Australian Government in August after intelligence reports linked the IRGC to anti-Semitic attacks in Melbourne and Sydney.
Al Haddad denies formal ties to the Houthis, but his online activity suggests ideological alignment.
In one video, he is seen aboard a Houthi vessel waving flags bearing the slogan: ‘God is great, death to the US, death to Israel, curse the Jews, and victory for Islam’.
Piker has praised Yemeni ‘music videos’ that critics say are thinly veiled pro-Houthi propaganda. In a September 2024 stream, he played one such video featuring the same slogan, prompting outrage from Jewish and pro-Israel groups.
Daily Mail has contacted Piker and the ABC for further comment.
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ABC star blasted over interview with Twitch streamer who declared America ‘deserved 9/11’
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