“I resist the idea that we should play this cancel culture gotcha game that tells us who we can’t talk to,” Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed said during a Sept. 15 debate.

El-Sayed has leaned on that line, or some version of it, to defend his relationship with controversial Twitch streamer Hasan Piker, who has become a major point of attack for El-Sayed's Republican opponents. 

El-Sayed has distanced himself from Piker in recent weeks, but he still invokes “cancel culture” as a shield against criticism. In doing so, he misunderstands what was wrong with it in the first place. His framing implies there is no one too toxic for him to stand beside.

“I don't do cancel culture,” El-Sayed said on Charlamagne tha God's radio show Aug. 31. "I go everywhere, I talk to everybody."

But political movements have every right to police the boundaries of acceptable debate, even when that means shutting out voices with a big audience.

Hasan Piker goes beyond acceptable debate

El-Sayed's relationship with Piker has dogged him all cycle. Piker campaigned prominently on his behalf during the primary, and El-Sayed even spent part of primary Election Day at a Detroit pool party with Piker and other influencers.

El-Sayed has dismissed criticism of the relationship as a "gotcha game," but........

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