Leftist Influencers Hasan Piker and Jia Tolentino Face Backlash for Glorifying Theft

Stealing is wrong—plain and simple. Children learn this early from parents, teachers, and mentors. While desperation may drive some to steal to survive, the act itself remains morally indefensible. Punishment is inevitable, even for minor offenses like a child taking a candy bar from a store.

Yet two prominent leftist figures, Hasan Piker and Jia Tolentino, recently faced widespread ridicule for flippantly defending theft during a New York Times podcast interview titled The Rich Don't Play By the Rules. So Why Should I?

Who Are Hasan Piker and Jia Tolentino?

The podcast’s framing—implying Piker, Tolentino, and host Nadja Spiegelman are underdogs rebelling against the rich—is deeply misleading. All three are members of the cultural elite:

• Nadja Spiegelman: Culture editor at The New York Times, author, cartoonist, and daughter of legendary cartoonist Art Spiegelman, creator of Maus.
• Jia Tolentino: A well-known feminist writer with significant financial means.
• Hasan Piker: A highly successful far-left Twitch streamer and nephew of The Young Turks founder Cenk Uygur, who helped launch his career.

None of them face economic hardship that would justify theft.

Defending Theft: 'Cool Crimes' and Whole Foods Shoplifting

During the interview, the trio openly endorsed stealing:

Nadja Spiegelman: Would you steal from the Louvre?

Hasan Piker: Yes.

Jia Tolentino: I would not be logistically capable of executing such a feat, but would I cheer on every news story of people that I see doing it? Absolutely.

Hasan Piker: I think it's cool. We've got to get back to cool crimes like that: bank robberies, stealing priceless artifacts, things of that nature. I feel like that's way cooler than the 7,000th new cryptocurrency scheme that people are engaging in.

Nadja Spiegelman: Would you steal from Whole Foods?

Jia Tolentino: Yes. And I have, under very specific circumstances. I will say, I think that stealing from a big box store—I'll just state my platform—it's neither very significant as a moral wrong, nor is it significant in any way as protest or direct action. But I did steal from Whole Foods on several occasions.

Piker’s stance is unapologetic: He frames theft as a justified rebellion against corporations, arguing, “I'm pro stealing from big corporations, because they steal quite a bit more from their own workers.”

Public Backlash and Criticism

The comments drew immediate backlash, with critics accusing Piker and Tolentino of hypocrisy. Their defense of theft—while enjoying elite status—contradicts basic moral principles and trivializes the struggles of those forced into crime by necessity. The exchange also highlights a growing trend among some leftist influencers to romanticize illegal acts under the guise of political protest.