Is Fox News now mentioning Hasan Piker more than trans people? We investigate

This story originally appeared on Them.

It’s hard to imagine any topic getting more mentions than transgender people on Fox News. Why deviate from the script when stories about bathrooms, student athletes, and Elliot Page’s casting in The Odyssey can generate so much reliable outrage? Well, as it turns out, a new subject may be at risk of overtaking the trans community as the cable behemoth's object of ire: left-wing political streamer Hasan Piker.

On X, user @JulesNader386 posted an analysis on September 2 claiming that Fox News and Fox Business had mentioned Piker more times than transgender people across both networks in the month of August.

Using the same Archive.org data set of television transcripts, and looking at Fox News specifically, Them found that the network had used the word “trans” 269 times in August — almost exclusively in reference to transgender people, with rare exceptions like a story about a “trans canyon water line” — and the full word “transgender” an additional 138 times. That would total to 407 times, collectively.

The word “Hasan” — again, almost exclusively used in reference to Piker, who has over three million followers on Twitch — was mentioned 306 times on Fox News in August. That means Piker may not yet have overtaken the trans community as public enemy number one on Fox News, but he certainly could close the gap.

(Piker’s edge, in @JulesNader386’s analysis, would appear to at least be partially attributable to the inclusion of Fox Business, where Piker received 63 mentions in August, according to Them’s review.)

It’s important to note that this Archive.org data simply reflects the number of times words like “trans,” “transgender,” and “Hasan” have been spoken by hosts and guests on the network, and not necessarily the number of segments devoted to each subject.

Piker has increasingly fallen under the right-wing radar in recent weeks due to his support for Michigan’s Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed. Although Piker campaigned for El-Sayed during his successful primary run, the candidate has since distanced himself from the streamer, as Politico recently reported. El-Sayed has condemned recent comments Piker made about someone deciding to “take action” against “American Jews” over their support of Israel, as well as Piker’s 2019 statement that “America deserved 9/11.” (Piker called the latter remark “inappropriate.”)

Regardless, right-wing media has attempted to tie Piker to both El-Sayed and the Democratic Party writ large, despite data suggesting that most of the American public doesn’t even know who he is. Moderate Democrats have also frequently cited Piker’s support of more progressive candidates as the 2026 election cycle heats up, as Vox noted. Despite his massive online popularity with younger progressives, Piker’s views are divisive among registered voters who have heard of him, according to public polling.

The firm Echelon Insights found in April of this year that 51% of Democrat or Democratic-leaning voters surveyed said that Piker” views are antithetical to what most Democrats believe, and party leaders should say so” while 21% said that he “reaches new audiences and helps Democrats defeat the MAGA” right even if they disagree with some of his views.

Of course, there’s no telling whether Piker will have the staying power to become a permanent topic on Fox News in quite the same way as transgender people have. Them’s analysis shows that Piker was mentioned a mere 56 times in June compared to nearly 270 mentions of trans people that same month. If I had to venture a guess, we’ll be hearing Fox News commentators fearmonger about litter boxes in public schools long after the 2026 election cycle is over, while Piker will ultimately fall out of their minds next year.

But you know what they say: Nothing gold can stay.

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