Progressive pundit Hasan Piker has filed a $72.5 million defamation lawsuit against conservative commentator Scott Jennings, claiming Jennings deliberately distorted his remarks to falsely portray him as a supporter of lynching Black people.Piker, in a 38-page complaint filed Tuesday in Washington, D.C., federal court, said Jennings defamed him during an Aug.11 episode of “The Scott Jennings Show” when he played footage from a 2024 livestream of Piker’s show that had been doctored.“Mr.
Jennings did not merely mischaracterize something Mr.Piker said,” the complaint states.
“He took a false, fabricated, and manipulated video of Mr.Piker, added a made-up quotation that Mr.
Piker never uttered, and then made accusations that went beyond even what the manipulated footage purported to show.” Jennings, who is also a CNN commentator, described Piker on the broadcast as a “radical socialist streamer” and Democratic Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed’s “best friend” who has been “calling for Black voters to be lynched.”“Listen for yourself and understand what the socialists have in store for the black community,” Jennings posted.“Mr.Piker has never advocated the lynching of Black Americans, or anyone else,” the complaint states.
“He has never called for a return to lynchings.And he has never proposed anything remotely resembling the supposed plan that Mr.
Jennings falsely attributed to him.”Jennings did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.In the complaint, Piker’s legal team said it sent a written demand to Jennings’ lawyers in August that they issue a retraction.The legal team for Jennings acknowledged they received the letter and said a response would follow, but no “substantive response” has been issued, the complaint said.As of Wednesday, Jennings’ post that includes the allegedly doctored video was still on X and had racked-up three million views.Piker’s legal team also suggested in th...