HasanAbi’s Fundraiser Ignored by Turkish Media Outlet

Twitch streamer Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker started a fundraiser to raise money for those affected by the earthquakes and the aftershocks in Turkey and Syria. The streamer, along with his community, successfully raised over $1,000,000 USD to aid the relief efforts and rescue operations. On his recent stream, HasanAbi read out a Turkish news outlet that seemingly left Turkish streamers, including Ahmet "Jahrein", Elraenn, and himself, out of its coverage of content creators raising money for the victims. He translated the Turkish article for his viewers and also reasoned that it could be because he and other Turkish Twitch streamers have been publicly “showing the atrocities on the ground.”

The article titled (translated from Turkish to English) “American publisher collects donations for Turkey” from NTVSPOR only mentions YouTuber and content creator Darren “IShowSpeed” Watkin.

HasanAbi reacts to the Turkish article

The clip of HasanAbi reading the Turkish article that mentioned only IShowSpeed gathered a lot of steam on Reddit. A post titled, “A big Turkish media outlet disregards Hasan and says "Twitch streamer IShowSpeed raised 200k for Turkey" currently has over 4K upvotes and 300 comments.

During his recent Twitch stream, HasanAbi was talking about Turkish media outlets covering news stories about him. He noted that the Turkish media cover news stories about him since he is a Turkish national in America and that it is a “sense of pride.” However, he reasoned there is a lack of news coverage in Turkey about the fundraisers by Turkish Twitch streamers because they have been critical of the government. 

HasanAbi said, “But because I and all the other Turkish Twitch streamers have been at the forefront, especially the other Turkish streamers, of showing the atrocities on the f***** ground. They are literally just avoiding it… No coverage, nothing whatsoever. Normally there would be a massive f**** story in Turkey. I know for a fact.”

As he was explaining the situation, a viewer on his Twitch chat brought up the article about IShowSpeed’s contribution, making HasanAbi laugh. He said, “No, really? NTVSPOR apparently talked about only IShowSpeed raising money. Not me, not Jahrein, noone else.” HasanAbi called it ironic since IShowSpeed’s fundraiser was called a “scam.”

He added, “Remember when I said just now that the Turkish government will avoid talking about all the Turkish Twitch streamers that are raising funds? Not just me, like, Jahrein, Elraenn, and everyone else that's like, collectively raising funds for the recovery efforts. They don't talk about it on purpose because everyone here is incredibly critical of the Turkish government.”

HasanAbi also pointed out the inaccuracy of the article calling IShowSpeed a “Twitch” streamer. While the streamer said the article does not matter and hinted that it does not undermine their efforts, he claimed that this “just proves how much of a grip the Turkish government has over its independent outlets.”