A longtime right-wing commentator has filed a $150 million lawsuit against left-wing Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, accusing him of fomenting violence against Jewish people in the United States through his online commentary. Larry Klayman, who founded the conservative legal group Judicial Watch before starting Freedom Watch USA, brought the suit in Palm Beach County, claiming Piker's words amounted to an incitement to violence against American Jews, including high-profile figures like himself.
Klayman filed the civil complaint in Palm Beach County, asserting claims of reckless endangerment, civil assault, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, according to Sportskeeda. He is seeking more than $150 million in damages along with an injunction restraining Piker's online commentary. As reported by the Miami New Times, Klayman identifies himself in the filing as an activist, messianic Jew, and Zionist.
The Livestream at the Center of the Suit
The lawsuit centers on a late-August livestream in which Piker said that if American Jews keep presenting themselves as singularly invested in Israel, “eventually someone is going to come around and take action… against American Jews,” per Sportskeeda's account of the broadcast. Klayman characterized the statement as an illegal “fatwa,” the outlet reported.
According to the Miami New Times, Klayman also argued in his complaint that Piker used his platform to dehumanize Jewish people, praised Hamas, and was in league with Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, and the Council for American-Islamic Relations. Piker did not respond to the Miami New Times' emailed request for comment. Klayman, when contacted by phone on Monday, referred questions to a news release on Freedom Watch USA's website and told the outlet he would sue both the reporter and the publication personally if they defamed him.
A Suspended Lawyer Representing Himself
Klayman is currently barred from practicing law in Florida, a status that stems from a chain of disciplinary actions. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals imposed an 18-month suspension in 2022 following findings of professional misconduct in Larry Klayman's representation of Elham Sataki, including fee, confidentiality, client-control, and conflict issues, according to Law-CaseMine. The Florida Supreme Court then imposed reciprocal discipline, suspending Klayman from practicing law in the state for two years in Case SC2023-1219 on November 6, 2025, and ordering him to pay $4,536.93 in disciplinary costs, per FindLaw Caselaw. Per the Miami New Times, Klayman is barred from practicing law in Florida for another year.
Despite that suspension, Florida law allows Klayman to represent himself pro se in this case. Florida Bar communications director Jennifer Davis confirmed to the Miami New Times that while suspended attorneys cannot represent third-party clients, the rules preserve a suspended lawyer's right to represent himself in his own litigation — which is exactly the path Klayman says he plans to take here.
Why Palm Beach County
The lawsuit lands in Palm Beach County. Klayman's own history of aggressive political litigation dates back decades; Wikipedia's entry on him notes he filed dozens of lawsuits against the Clinton administration in the 1990s after founding Judicial Watch, and the Southern Poverty Law Center has covered him as part of its Dismantling White Supremacy series, according to the Miami New Times.
Facing Florida's Anti-SLAPP Shield
Any defense from Piker would likely address Florida Statutes § 768.295. Procedural rules make that defense faster to deploy than it once was: the Florida Supreme Court's March 2025 ruling in Vericker v. Powell amended Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.130 to grant defendants an immediate interlocutory appeal if a trial judge denies an anti-SLAPP motion, according to Justia Law.
Piker's Twitch channel, HasanAbi, has 3 million followers as of this month, ranking among the platform's highest-profile English-language news and politics channels, per Streams Charts. He left The Young Turks in 2020 to stream full-time. Piker is a polarizing political commentator.
