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Embattled Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) joked with Hasan Piker that the media is fixated on her because of her “good” looks Monday ahead of a controversial event with the far-left antisemitic streamer.
Omar made the remark during Piker’s livestream of his green-room couch conversation with the “Squad” rep before they took the stage at the event hosted by socialist Minnesota state lawmaker Omar Fateh.
“I feel like the media has a tendency, you know, to highlight everything that you do,” Piker told Omar during their chummy conversation. “Some of the things that I do, like – we’re just normal Americans trying to go about our day-to-day and trying to organize against the Trump administration in the same way that, you know, white people are doing in general.
“Why is that?”
Omar responded: “We just look really good on their screens.”
The event was described as the inaugural episode of Fateh’s “I’m The Host Now!” series.
Fateh is Somali-American, and Omar was born in Somalia.
The event drew widespread condemnation from Republicans and Jewish groups.
“Ilhan Omar knows exactly who Hasan Piker is and what he has said,” John Nagel, Omar’s GOP opponent in her midterm election race, fumed on X.
Nagel highlighted some of Piker’s most outrageous commentary, including his belief that “America deserved 9/11” and that he’d vote for Hamas over Israel “every single time.”
“This is not outreach. It is the normalization of antisemitism, support for terrorists and contempt for America,” Nagel argued, demanding that prominent state Democrats disavow Omar’s appearance with Piker
“Peggy Flanagan, Keith Ellison and every Minnesota Democrat must answer: Do they stand with Jewish Minnesotans, or with Ilhan Omar and Hasan Piker?” he said.
The Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas (JCRC) said it was “appalled” by Omar’s decision to share a stage with Piker.
“Elevating someone with a longstanding record of antisemitic and hateful rhetoric is a betrayal of Jewish Minnesotans and harmful to the broader public,” the group said in a statement.
“Piker’s rhetoric dehumanizes Jews and shifts responsibility for antisemitic violence onto its potential victims,” the JCRC continued. “ It deserves unequivocal condemnation from everyone who claims to oppose bigotry and antisemitism.”
Republican gubernatorial candidate Lisa Demuth was astonished that “Democrat leaders invited a vile anti-American left-wing radical to Minnesota … a week before the election.”
“This is the Democrats closing message to voters,” Demuth said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.