Fox’s Bill Hemmer Presses Dem Candidate Over Hasan Piker Association: ‘Why Saddle Up With That Individual?’

Fox News’ Bill Hemmer pressed Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed on his decision to campaign with controversial left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who has drawn backlash for his comments on everything from 9/11 to the October 7 attack on Israel.

Hemmer questioned El-Sayed’s decision to campaign with Piker on Wednesday’s America’s Newsroom by bringing up some of the streamer’s past controversial comments.

Piker said in May 2024:

It doesn’t even matter. None of this justifies that Palestinians have a right to dignity, a right to emancipation, a right to live free f**king lives, free from this occupation. Doesn’t matter. Doesn’t matter if f*cking rapes happened on October 7. Like, that doesn’t change the dynamic for me even this much.

Hemmer audibly exhaled after playing the clip of Piker’s comments.

“I don’t know why you’re doing this event, but I know you’re going to explain it to me. Just so our audience knows, if they’re not aware, at one point he said about 9/11, America deserved it. He later walked that back and said it was an inappropriate comment. With regard to October 7th, he said that what Hamas did is the lesser of two evils. Why saddle up with that?” Hemmer asked El-Sayed.

The Democrat candidate compared his campaigning with Piker to going on Fox News, saying he doesn’t need to agree with everyone he talks to or campaigns with.

He said:

You know, Bill, at the end of the day, I don’t go on any show where I agree with everybody. You and I clearly disagree on a number of things, including the war in Iran. To me, it’s about speaking to a broader audience. I’m on this show right now because I’m wanting to speak to the broader audience who are getting a bum deal because of this war. And I’m wanting to speak with Hasan’s audience too. So just because you invite somebody to campaign with you or you’re engaging with them does not mean that you agree with them. Famously, the president had dinner with a known neo-Nazi, among many, many others. This is about being able to bring people back into our politics. Every day, 30,000 people and counting tune in to Hasan’s stream. A lot of folks who don’t watch Fox News, they don’t see CNN, they don’t watching MSNBC, they feel locked out of our politics by a politics that is more focused on corporations and their well-being than theirs.

“But this is an active decision that you’re making, okay?” Hemmer responded.

“Yes, it’s an active decision to reach out to people who feel locked out of their politics to have a conversation,” El-Sayed said. “Just like I’m making an active decision as somebody who’s running in a Democratic primary to have a conversation on Fox News, where famously many of your viewers may not vote [for me].”

Watch above via Fox News.

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