Mike Figueredo
Role at the time: Host, The Humanist Report
Defended or excused
Statement summary
Mike Figueredo defended Piker, noting that the Axios interviewer rather than Piker introduced the al-Qaeda comparison, and argued the interview was designed to generate outrage that could be used against Abdul El-Sayed.
“If you'll recall, Hasan didn't even bring up al-Qaeda on his own volition. It was the interviewer who chose to invoke al-Qaeda. ... The goal was to farm outrage off of him specifically to tee up attacks against Abdul El-Sayed, a Muslim candidate that the Republican Party wants you to believe is a terrorist sympathizer.”
Open source (opens in a new tab)"Axios & MS NOW Cynically Farm Outrage Off of Hasan Piker Interviews" (The Humanist Report)04:48-05:09 substance of the claim; 12:18-12:29 who raised al-Qaeda; 13:04-13:31 motive attributed to Axios
Why we used this label
Relative to the claim at issue -- that America commits more terrorism than al-Qaeda -- Figueredo defends it, saying critics "refuse to grapple with the substance" because the idea that America "statistically speaking, commits more acts of terrorism than Al Qaeda is too much for these people to bear." He also challenges the framing by noting the interviewer introduced the comparison.