Two of Minnesota’s most prominent Democratic leaders have appeared on the online show of far-left political commentator Hasan Piker, whose past comments praising authoritarian governments and militant groups — and who once stated, “America deserved 9/11, dude. F-ck it, I’m saying it” — have drawn widespread criticism.
Both U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison have appeared on Piker’s show this year.
Piker has built a large following among younger progressive audiences. He has called Cuba “as close to a moral country as possible” and stated that he considers Hamas “a thousand times better” than Israel.
Omar joined Piker’s program in an interview later posted to YouTube, where he praised her as “resilient” and “steadfast” in the face of “racial vitriol” he said she receives from Trump supporters and Americans more broadly.
Ilhan Omar went on Hasan Piker’s show last night.pic.twitter.com/mv01kJZTqO
— Defiant L’s (@DefiantLs) April 11, 2026
Ellison also appeared on Piker’s show in January during ICE’s Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota, where Piker described Ellison as a “legend” and said he has “been a fan” of him “for a minute now.”
Ellison later promoted a clip of Piker discussing his views on wage theft, with the attorney general writing that he created the “first wage theft unit in the history of my office” to recover money for Minnesota workers.
Wage theft is real theft, and workers deserve every dollar they earn. I created the first wage theft unit in the history of my office to make sure people get paid what they’re owed, to hold bad actors accountable, and we’ve already brought back hundreds of thousands of dollars to… https://t.co/apZ4qLtft3
— Keith Ellison (@keithellison) April 24, 2026
According to an article in The Dispatch, Piker has also described Chinese dictator Mao Zedong as “one of the great leaders of the world.” He also called the fall of the Soviet Union “one of the greatest catastrophes of the 20th century”
When asked in an interview if he really believes that Hamas is “a thousand times better” than Israel, Piker affirmed that he does.
“I’ve also said that I’m a harm-reduction voter, I’m a lesser-evil voter, and therefore I would vote for Hamas over Israel every single time,” he explained.
Piker also once said, “If you cared about Medicare fraud or Medicaid fraud, you would kill Rick Scott,” while accusing the U.S. senator from Florida of committing the “largest Medicare fraud in U.S. history.”
3 assassination attempts against @POTUS . @charliekirk11 assassinated. Radical podcaster Hasan Piker says I should be murdered. Political violence and this hateful, disgusting rhetoric has got to stop. This cannot be normalized in our country. https://t.co/WF6tIULNHW
— Rick Scott (@ScottforFlorida) April 26, 2026
He later followed up on X, writing: “im sorry! ill choose my words carefully next time & say ‘if mike johnson cares abt medicare fraud (since he wants to cut 800m from medicaid/medicare) he’d call for MAX PUNISHMENT for current fl gop senator/former gov rick scott- who has done the most medicare fraud in us history!”
Piker later walked back his comments about 9/11 and said they were “inappropriate” amid backlash, Fox News reported. The outlet also revealed this week that federal officials have subpoenaed Piker as part of an inquiry into “whether activists who traveled to Cuba in March violated U.S. sanctions laws.”
“This is very clearly another intimidation tactic from the American government. It is a way to silence dissent,” Piker said in a response.
Alpha News reached out to Omar and Ellison for comment but did not receive a response.
Jenna Gloeb
Jenna Gloeb is an Edward R. Murrow Award-winning journalist, media producer, public speaker, and screenwriter. Most recently, she worked as a reporter and on-air host for CCX Media. Jenna is a Minnesota native and resides in the Twin Cities with her husband, son, daughter, and two dogs.
