Legal scholar Jonathan Turley has criticized streamer Hasan Piker for leading a crowd in mocking the assassination and faith of Charlie Kirk during a live event in San Francisco. Turley described the incident as representative of a broader trend of what he terms an "age of rage" in American discourse.
During a stop on his "Fear& LIVE" tour at the Golden Gate Theatre on August 21, Piker reportedly led his audience in singing a song that mocked Kirk. Videos from the event show Piker, wearing a Mao jacket, and his co-hosts engaging with the crowd as they laugh. Turley noted that this behavior, particularly the crowd's apparent enjoyment of mocking someone's death, demonstrates a desensitization to violence and hate among younger audiences.
Turley, a Fox News contributor and author, stated in an opinion piece that Piker and others like him "traffic in rage" to a nation of "rage addicts." He drew parallels to other instances of heated rhetoric from the left, including Florida Democratic Senate candidate Angie Nixon comparing Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to "modern-day slave catchers." Turley argued that such language, while protected speech, is often used to demonize those with opposing views.
He suggested that this environment fosters a climate where "civility, and even humanity, become signs of weakness." Turley also referenced Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who has campaigned with Piker and used inflammatory language towards Republicans, as an example of political figures engaging with or appealing to this heightened state of public anger. El-Sayed has publicly disavowed Piker's comments regarding 9/11 but has also been critical of "cancel culture."
Turley contended that the phenomenon he describes allows individuals to "hate completely and without remorse or reflection." He posited that this dynamic conditions supporters to disregard even the murder of those with opposing viewpoints, reducing such tragedies to mere "sing-a-longs."