Hasan Piker’s long-running habit of reacting to cable news clips took a personal turn this week. During a livestream, Piker watched a Fox News segment that brought up his dog Kaya and the online allegations surrounding a collar incident from a previous stream.
Piker paused the clip the moment his dog was mentioned. He then suggested Fox News was being careful with its wording because directly accusing him of shocking Kaya could expose the network to a lawsuit.
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He repeated his stance that the device in question was a vibration collar, not a shock collar, and framed the allegations as a campaign pushed by online critics. Moments later, the segment continued naming him and referencing the controversy anyway.
The “collargate” saga began with a clip in which critics claim Piker used a remote-controlled collar on Kaya, who appeared to yelp on stream. Piker has denied shocking his dog. Over time, his explanations have included that the collar was a vibration model, that he never used a shock function, and at one point that Kaya wasn’t even wearing the collar during the moment in question.
None of that has stopped the clip from circulating, and it has become one of the most recycled talking points used against him by right-wing media and rival streamers.
From Twitch drama to cable news
Fox News covering a Twitch streamer’s dog isn’t entirely out of character. Piker, the nephew of Cenk Uygur and a former Young Turks contributor, is one of the most prominent left-wing voices on Twitch and a frequent target of conservative outlets. JD Vance has also referenced the dog allegation on TV in the past.
Piker hasn’t filed any lawsuit or issued a formal legal demand. As a public figure, any defamation case in the US would require him to prove the statements were false and made with actual malice—and discovery would likely drag the original collar footage right back into the spotlight.
