Hasan Piker Twitch Streaming vs. "Real Job" Controversy

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Part of a series on Hasan "HasanAbi" Piker. [View Related Entries]

Overview

Hasan Piker Twitch Streaming vs. "Real Job" Controversy refers to memes and discussions in late February 2024 regarding a viral clip from a Hasan Piker (HasanAbi) Twitch stream in which he said, "A real job doesn't suck the soul out of you in the same way that streaming absolutely will." Various internet personalities criticized the streamer for the statement, arguing that it diminishes the hardships of more labor-intensive jobs. Hasan Piker and some of his fans attempted to contextualize the statement after it garnered backlash, saying that Hasan was specifically referring to his "social battery" being drained after streaming for hours at length. Memes mocking Hasan for his statements proliferated online soon after the clip was shared.

Background

On February 24th, 2024, Twitch^[1] streamer HasanAbi hosted a "Just Chatting" stream on which he watched Reesa Teesa's Who TF Did I Marry TikTok series. At roughly the 28-minute timestamp, Piker said, "Yes, a real job can be gruesome, a real job can make you very tired, but a real job doesn't suck the soul out of you the same way that nine hours of streaming absolutely will. Social battery-wise … unless you're in retail, it's very different. A real job does not expend your social battery in the same way that Twitch streaming does."

On February 24th, 2024, X^[2] user @TCBrady133 posted a clip from the aforementioned Hasan Piker stream, writing, "Millionaire streamer Hasan Piker claims that 'A real job doesn't suck the soul out of you in the same way that streaming absolutely will.'" The post gathered over 18,000 likes in two days (seen below).

Numerous fellow streamers also reacted to the controversy and weighed in with their own opinions. For example, Kick streamer xQc commented on Hasan's viral clip on February 25th, receiving over 52,000 views and 1,200 likes in less than a day (seen below, left). Also that day, Twitch streamer Asmongold reacted to it, receiving over 275,000 views and 7,300 likes in a similar timeframe (seen below, right).

Developments

X^[3] user @ComradeLamb made a post with a longer clip from Piker's stream on February 24th, 2024, writing, "here's the context for this dumbass clip chimp of hasan. / I get that expecting the NEETs on this dumbass site to understand the nuance of how different jobs drain you in different ways is insane but oh well." The post gathered over 5,000 likes in two days (seen below).

On February 25th, Hasan Piker quoted^[6] the Muddy Workers Operating Heavy Machinery video on X / Twitter, joking about how Twitch streaming is a harder job. The post gathered over 3.1 million views, 41,000 likes and 1,500 replies in a day (seen below).

Online Reactions

On February 24th, 2024, a post on the /r/LivestreamFail^[7] subreddit with the title "Hasan's thoughts the working class" was made, which garnered over 810 upvotes and 1,3000 comments prior to removal by "Reddit's spam filters."

Various internet users reacted to the clip of Piker implying that Twitch streaming may be harder on one's "social battery" than other types of jobs, including X^[4] user @slattymattyy, who posted a Who's Getting The Best Head meme on February 25th, 2024, gathering over 7,000 likes in a day (seen below, left)

Also on February 25th, X^[5] user @Dispropoganda posted a meme comparing Hasan Piker to manual laborers, gathering over 4,000 likes in a day (seen below, right).

Hasan's Response

The following day, February 25th, 2024, Hasan Piker then responded to the initial wave of discourse surrounding his contentious statement during another Twitch stream in which he also discussed the /r/LivestreamFail^[7] post. The clip was reuploaded to the HasanAbi YouTube^[8] channel that same day under the title "THIS IS WHY I HATE STREAMING," receiving over 112,000 views, 6,900 likes and 1,500 comments in roughly a day (shown below).