The book was essential reading in China as Mao’s regime persecuted and murdered millions during his Cultural Revolution
Anti-American streamer Hasan Piker—a rising left-wing darling featured in glowing mainstream media profiles—was visibly elated after receiving a copy of Mao Zedong’s “little red book,” which was essential reading in China as the authoritarian carried out a murderous purge.
“Thank you so much. This is incredible. Wow! This is literally what I talked about on the stream, like the first day. I was like, ‘I want one of the English copies of the OG red book,'” Piker told the fan who gave it to him during a livestream while visiting China. “This is really, really special.”
One member of his posse called it “more important than the Bible.”
It was effectively essential to own Mao’s book of writings and quotations during his regime’s Cultural Revolution, which led to the persecution and deaths of millions. The authoritarian’s Red Guards would check if those suspected of bourgeois tendencies owned it or could quote from it, and the regime shipped it abroad in an attempt to spread Mao’s communist ideals, according to the BBC. It includes quotes like, “Every Communist must grasp the truth: Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun.”
Piker, who has amassed some 4.5 million followers on Twitch and YouTube, is clearly no stranger to the book—he noted that he wanted a copy at the beginning of his trip to China. He excitedly read from it after receiving a copy. “Comrade Mao Zedong is the greatest Marxist-Leninist in our era,” he said, quoting the book’s foreword. He nodded after Will Neff, a banking scion turned anti-capitalist streamer who was accompanying Piker, asked if Mao was “getting laid.”
As donations poured into the livestream, a streamer in Piker’s entourage, Austin Show, said, “I think [Mao] also said ‘Once somebody has a lot of money, maybe stop giving them more.'” Piker denied Mao ever said that.
Piker, over the past year, has been lauded in the mainstream media—even after facing criticism for zapping his dog with a shock collar and saying, “America deserved 9/11.” The New Yorker called him “a model for the future of progressive media.” The New York Times praised his “progressive mind in a MAGA body” and described him as “the left’s Joe Rogan.” Variety describes Piker similarly in a glowing profile published Thursday.
Piker’s trip to China has solidified his stance as an apologist for the Chinese Communist Party. During an appearance on China Global Television Network, a state-controlled propaganda outlet that works to cover up the Uyghur genocide, he called China a “normal country” and said he was visiting to debunk “rumors” and “misunderstandings.”
Earlier in his jaunt, Piker fawned over the ceremonial sunrise flag-raising near Zedong’s portrait at the Tiananmen gate—even after Chinese authorities stopped him on suspicion of mocking the communist leader.
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