Hasan Piker’s Mao praise resurfaces after he campaigned for Michigan Senate hopeful Abdul El-Sayed

In a video clip that circulated widely online July 21, prominent socialist streamer Hasan Piker vowed never to ridicule Mao Zedong and praised the Chinese Communist dictator as “one of the great leaders of this world.”

The clip has renewed scrutiny of Piker’s growing role in Democratic politics, including his decision to campaign with Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed at two university rallies in April.

The footage is not from Piker’s recent political appearances. It comes from a livestream recorded during his November 2025 visit to China, when Piker discussed being questioned by an officer near Tiananmen Square.

“I got stopped by a cop who thought I was making fun of Mao Zedong, which I never would and never will,” Piker said. “Mao Zedong is one of the great leaders of this world, okay? A man who changed the entire universe, the entire planet.”

Piker went on to acknowledge that “there was a lot of f***ing excesses” under Mao, but immediately added, “The People’s Republic of China would not exist without Mao Zedong,” according to a transcript previously published by Vox.

Mao founded the communist People’s Republic of China in 1949 and ruled the country until his death in 1976. His Great Leap Forward, which imposed forced collectivization and impossible production requirements, caused one of history’s deadliest famines.

Estimates of famine deaths range from 23 million to 55 million, with approximately 30 million being the most commonly cited figure, according to the Association for Asian Studies. Mao later launched the Cultural Revolution, during which millions of Chinese citizens were persecuted, tortured, displaced, imprisoned, or killed.

Clip circulates after College Democrats speech

Piker’s earlier remarks about Mao spread online after he addressed the College Democrats of America’s national convention July 18 in Washington. The organization describes itself as the official collegiate arm of the Democratic National Committee.

Piker appeared at the convention in a high-collared gray suit that critics compared to Mao’s signature attire. He described himself as an outsider seeking an “insurgency” within the Democratic Party and urged students to reject both President Donald Trump and moderate Democrats.

“No more to Trumpism, but no more to the Democrats who compromise, who conciliate, and who betray us,” Piker said during the speech.

Shannon Watts, the founder of the gun-control organization Moms Demand Action, condemned Piker’s appearance and specifically raised his connection to El-Sayed.

“He is a dangerous, hateful extremist, and anyone campaigning with him — including El Sayed — should be held accountable by voters,” Watts wrote, according to Fox News.

Fox reported that neither the DNC nor El-Sayed’s campaign immediately responded to requests for comment about the controversy.

El-Sayed previously defended campaigning with Piker

El-Sayed’s campaign featured Piker at April 7 rallies at Michigan State University and the University of Michigan. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., also appeared at the events, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., joined the University of Michigan gathering.

In its account of the rallies, El-Sayed’s campaign said more than 1,200 students, residents, and supporters attended, with tens of thousands more watching through online streams. The campaign described Piker’s participation as evidence of “powerful grassroots momentum” behind El-Sayed.

El-Sayed defended his decision to share a stage with Piker after facing criticism over the streamer’s previous inflammatory comments.

“I think we play this game where we do this platform policing, and we pretend like we’re not allowed to talk to certain groups of people because they said something we disagree with,” El-Sayed said in an April radio interview. “That’s just not how the world works.”

Piker and Democratic Socialists of America

Piker’s Mao comments will likely deepen a broader debate over the growth of socialist organizations and influencers within Democratic electoral politics.

As Zeale News previously reported, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) recently released a program seeking public ownership of major corporations and essential industries, voting rights for noncitizens, an end to immigration detention and deportation, and a new constitutional system replacing the presidency, Senate, and Supreme Court with institutions subordinate to a single federal legislature.

The DSA program also calls for taxpayer-funded abortion and “gender-affirming” procedures and the eventual abolition of police and prisons.

Although DSA says it rejects “authoritarian visions of socialism,” the organization describes itself as a political “big tent” that includes an openly communist faction known as Red Star. Piker has campaigned for DSA-backed candidates and recently told supporters that the country is “closer than ever” to socialism.

El-Sayed, however, has rejected the socialist label. Asked about his ideology in a July CNN interview, he said, “I am not somebody who is a socialist. I believe in capitalism. I just believe that capitalism has to be regulated.”