“You will be defeated by a tripod and a camera:” Sedat Peker and the antihero narrative in contemporary politics

Abstract In May and June of 2021, a series of YouTube videos posted by Sedat Peker, a Turkish crime boss, disclosed inside information implicating senior government officials and other public figures in major corruption scandals and crimes. Peker quickly gained popularity and became for the opposition a symbol of the impending fall of the Erdoğan regime. Based on a systematic analysis of these videos and the public debate they engendered, this article argues that the efficacy of Peker’s political campaign depended as much on the stylistic elements and cultural references of his performances as on the grave nature of his allegations about public officials. By showing how the antihero narrative—a genre ubiquitous in contemporary popular culture—is put to use in political performances, the study fills an important gap in narrative genre analysis in cultural sociology.