"I feel so bad": Mizkif reacts to HasanAbi seemingly not being allowed to stand next to The Streamer Awards 2024 sponsors

Twitch streamer and One True King (OTK) founder Matthew "Mizkif" recently opined on a viral clip from The Streamer Awards 2024 that shows political commentator Hasan "HasanAbi" not being allowed to be interviewed in front of a backdrop featuring the event's sponsors.

While being interviewed by FaZe member Rani "Stable Ronaldo," HasanAbi was asked to stand away from the established platform where everybody else was being interviewed. When he tried to take Stable Ronaldo back to the platform, he was told to give his interview away from it by event staff.

After watching the clip, Mizkif said:

"Hasan's not allowed to stand in front of the sponsors? Wow, dude, I feel — I actually feel so bad for him because he was trying to push him [Stable Ronaldo] to the left, and he got told that he has to stay there. That actually sucked."

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What are the controversies surrounding HasanAbi?

HasanAbi is a left-leaning Turkish-American political commentator on Twitch. He is known to be an outspoken voice on the platform when it comes to the Israel-Hamas war that began in 2023. He has held a supportive stance towards Palestine and criticized Israel for its part in the conflict.

In November 2024, HasanAbi's political opinions became a source of controversy after he was labeled as an "anti-Semitic voice" on the platform by U.S. Congressman Ritchie Torres in a letter sent by him to Twitch. The Amazon-backed website and its CEO, Dan Clancy, were also criticized by Torres for providing a platform for HasanAbi's opinions.

However, the content creator has since defended himself in an interview with CNN, claiming to only harbor anti-Zionist sentiments that were not directed towards Jews as a whole. He said:

"The real problem here is that I'm an anti-Zionist. The real problem here is that I'm extremely critical of Israel."

HasanAbi also claimed that the clips of him mentioned by Torres in his letter had been taken out of context. Talking in an interview with NBC News, he said:

"You have to just clip stuff in 15-second increments about complex geopolitical situations to be like, ‘See, he means the exact opposite of what he’s saying.'"

Twitch later became the subject of a campaign perpetuated by Dan “DanCantStream” and Steven "Destiny" that reportedly focused on pressuring advertisers to stop rolling ads on Twitch. Referring to HasanAbi's political stance, DanCantStream claimed that Twitch "encourages, promotes and protects virulent anti-Semitism."

As part of this campaign, Destiny often reacted to clips of HasanAbi, where he claimed to show the Turkish-American pushing for anti-Semitic rhetoric. Eventually, three advertisers, JP Morgan, AT&T, and Dunkin' Brands, reportedly stopped advertising on Twitch.