Did HasanAbi visit a brothel? Twitch streamer's 2021 controversy explored as Dan Saltman clip goes viral

Modified Nov 20, 2024 09:36 GMT

A clip from Dan Saltman's (aka Dancantstream) Kick stream has gone viral on social media where the streamer alleged that Twitch streamer "HasanAbi" Piker went to a brothel in Germany named Artemis in the past that was reportedly raided by the authorities on suspicion of sex trafficking and tax fraud.

Now, HasanAbi has talked about this publicly. In an episode of the H3 Podcast from October 2021, the Twitch streamer revealed having visited the brothel in 2010 after a clip of him from a strip club went viral on social media. In the podcast episode, Piker states:

"I talk routinely about sex work rights and sex workers in general and I have them on my show and whatnot too. So, um, one of those instances I talked about, all the way back in 2010, I think, I went to a brothel called Artemis in Berlin."

[Timestamp 6:35]

Dan Saltman, who has been at odds with HasanAbi for some time, has brought up news reports about the brothel in question. Criticizing Piker, Saltman noted that Artemis was raided by the police in 2016 (six years after the Twitch streamer's visit) for sex trafficking and other charges while quoting from a Guardian article about the news.

However, readers should note that in a 2023 court ruling, the city of Berlin had to pay the brothel €250K and also issue an apology for detaining individuals associated with Artemis. Because authorities had failed to provide enough evidence for the charges of human trafficking and tax fraud in court, the case is now closed.

Watch: Dan Saltman calls out HasanAbi for going to a German brothel that was investigated for human trafficking

Dan Saltman, who is a political commentator and co-host of Anything Else Podcast with Destiny, talking about the initial raid at the Artemis brothel in Berlin, has garnered a lot of attention on social media. In his Kick streams, Saltman has used the human trafficking angle to call out HasanAbi for visiting such an establishment. Readers should note, the Twitch streamer's visit predates the raid.

HasanAbi himself reacted to a clip of Dan bringing up this point on his Twitch stream recently and has claimed that the raid was for tax-related charges. While watching a clip of HasanAbi talking about it, Dan Saltman brought up a Guardian article from eight years ago where details of the raid on Artemis were reported.

Dan Saltman read out the significant part where it was noted that police charged the brothel for exploiting women and went on to insult HasanAbi saying:

"'Prostitution is legal in Germany but police charge that the four-storey brothel complex constituted a “brutal and illegal” system that severely exploited dependent women.' Suck a d**k Hasan, I ain't f**ked no prostitute at a place that raided for f**king human trafficking. You have! Pervert a** f**king old f**king motherf**ker."

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After the cussing, Dan Saltman continued playing HasanAbi's clip where the Twitch streamer claimed that the raid was because of tax-related charges and not human trafficking:

"Listen, they were f**king raided for tax evasion. He is saying it like it's fine, 'They weren't raided for sex trafficking but it doesn't matter. I am just going to keep lying about it.'"

Dan Saltman countered by claiming that he had just read an article contrary to HasanAbi's beliefs:

"I just read the article dawg, why don't you pull it up?"

As mentioned, the initial charges of human trafficking and tax fraud against Artemis have reportedly been dropped due to a lack of substantial proof. As per DW News, the brothel operators announced that the €250,000 settlement will go partially to compensate workers detained during the 2016 raid and the rest will go to charity.