CNN conservative commentator Scott Jennings has garnered a reputation for making outrageous statements that rankle his more left-leaning colleagues on the cable news network.
However, some comments Jennings’ made about a left-leaning Twitch streamer has granted him a new role: defendant in a federal lawsuit.
A Misrepresentation of Piker’s Remarks
On Tuesday, October 27, progressive Twitch streamer Hasan Piker filed a defamation lawsuit against Jennings that accused him of falsely claiming Piker had advocated for lynching Black Americans after airing an edited video featuring Piker.
The 38-page lawsuit was filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., and focuses on an August 11 episode of Jennings’ “The Scott Jennings Show.” In that edition of the show, Jennings shared clips of Piker, claiming Piker had said that “the USA should resume lynchings against Black people.”
Jennings Ignored Threats of Legal Action
At the time, Piker had threatened legal action over Jennings’s claim, sharing additional context into the clips that he claimed Jennings had cherry-picked. According to Piker, Jennings intentionally misrepresented some sarcastic remarks he’d made during his Twitch livestreams as claiming that Piker endorsed racial violence.
“Mr. Jennings did not merely mischaracterize something Mr. Piker said,” reads Piker’s complaint, which seeks $72.5 million in damages.
“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,” the complaint continues.
During Jennings’ August broadcast, he urged Black voters to focus on Piker’s statement, while also featuring an onscreen caption reading, “Let’s go back to a better time when lynchings were happening,” attributing that statement to Piker.
Jennings later accused Piker of “calling for Black voters to be lynched” and then remarked about “the Piker plan of returning our country to lynchings.”
As Piker’s suit points out, the footage Jennings utilized was pulled from an October 2024 Twitch broadcast in which Piker was reacting to a debate between two Black political commentators — one liberal and one conservative — which prompted Piker to state of one of them, “He said, ‘We need more Klansmen, OK? Can we go back to a better time when lynchings were happening?’”
Piker’s attorneys argue that Jennings’ edited video removed the words “He said,” while also editing out his laughter and additional commentary that would have made it apparent Piker was mocking a radical viewpoint, not expressing his own belief.
“A full review of Piker’s unedited remarks confirms Jennings falsely claimed Piker said he was in favor of bringing back lynchings,” the complaint states, referring to a report from fact-checking website Snopes, which claims Jennings’ video of Piker is “heavily edited” and “missing key context.”
Per the lawsuit, “In the original stream, Piker’s remarks on lynchings were sarcastic reactions to a user’s chat comment and opinions expressed by someone else in a separate video.”
According to Piker’s suit, Jennings’ post had been viewed approximately 2.5 million times. The suit also claims that on August 31 Jennings had received a written demand from Piker’s lawyers to retract his statements, but allegedly refused.
Piker’s suit further alleges that Jennings’ accusations damaged his reputation and impeded his ability to earn money through streaming, sponsorships and paid advertising.
Twitch Streamer Hasan Piker Launches $72M Defamation Lawsuit Against CNN Commentator Scott Jennings