By The American Tribune | Created at 2026-09-05 10:36:03 | Updated at 2026-09-05 13:39:16
3 hours ago
Cenk Uygur’s heated defense of Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed ended in a literal collapse when the chair beneath him suddenly gave way during a shouting match on “Piers Morgan Uncensored.” The Young Turks founder dropped several inches on camera as host Piers Morgan attempted to regain control of the debate. Uygur briefly inspected the broken chair before resuming his argument.
The mishap happened during a panel discussion about El-Sayed, Republican Senate nominee Mike Rogers and left-wing streamer Hasan Piker, who is Uygur’s nephew. Republican strategist Ronna McDaniel challenged Uygur over Piker’s previous comments about the United States, including his now-infamous 2019 declaration that “America deserved 9/11.” The discussion quickly deteriorated as Uygur and McDaniel repeatedly spoke over each other.
Morgan had introduced a CBS News report concerning social media posts El-Sayed had deleted. Several posts invoked the September 11th attacks while comparing their death toll with deaths from COVID-19 or criticizing the wars launched afterward. El-Sayed’s association with Piker, who appeared with the candidate at campaign events during the Democratic primary, soon became the main subject of the exchange.
As Trending Politics reported, Uygur accused CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss of attempting to smear El-Sayed because he is Muslim. Uygur argued that El-Sayed had erased all posts published before July 2023, rather than selectively deleting only the remarks featured in the CBS report. He redirected the argument toward Rogers and accused the Republican of working on behalf of Israel.
McDaniel pushed back by raising Piker’s repeated criticism of the United States, prompting Uygur to grow increasingly agitated. “18 Americans are dead because of your beloved Israel. That’s why I’m vitriolic,” Uygur said. After McDaniel pointed to Piker’s rhetoric, Uygur shouted, “Nobody thinks we deserve 9/11,” to which McDaniel answered, “Your nephew said that.” Uygur then declared, “We love America. Absolutely. We love America so much. We want to represent America instead of Israel.”
Morgan attempted to interrupt the argument and introduce a compilation of Piker’s past statements. “Okay, let me stop you there. Let me play a little mashup of your nephew Hasan Piker and the controversial things he said,” Morgan said. As Uygur protested, “Oh, here we go. Here we go back to Hasan,” his chair abruptly collapsed beneath him. “What the f— is this?” Uygur asked while looking down at the broken seat and laughing.
Watch Uygur’s chair collapse in the middle of the argument here:
"*" indicates required fields
The debate continued even as Uygur tried to recover from the fall, with the other panelists initially appearing not to notice what had happened. Uygur quickly returned to attacking Rogers and insisted that the Republican candidate was relevant to the discussion. “Mike Rogers works for Israel. He’s going to betray you,” Uygur said. “You live in Michigan. Do not let Israel buy that seat.”
The CBS News report found that El-Sayed had deleted posts comparing the nearly 3,000 Americans murdered on September 11th with the mounting COVID-19 death toll. His campaign previously said that every post older than July 2023 had been removed “to prevent any old posts from being taken out of context.” A campaign spokesperson said El-Sayed has “always unequivocally condemned terrorism and the September 11 attacks” and accused Rogers of misrepresenting the Democrat’s beliefs.
Piker campaigned with El-Sayed during the Democratic primary and helped the candidate reach younger progressive voters, although El-Sayed has disputed attempts to hold him responsible for everything the streamer says. Asked about their relationship before the primary, El-Sayed acknowledged that the two men disagree on some subjects but defended appearing with Piker. Following another controversy involving Piker’s remarks about Israel and American Jews, El-Sayed said, “Nobody speaks for this campaign besides me and my campaign spokespeople.”
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.
