The UK Home Office canceled the Electronic Travel Authorisations for Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer with a daily audience of 30,000, and Cenk Uygur, co-founder and host of the YouTube show “The Young Turks,” on June 1, according to the BBC. The pair were scheduled to appear at the six-day SXSW London festival, which began this week, and at a speaking event at Oxford University.
Piker and Uygur both posted on X that they were barred from entry. Uygur wrote that he was “banned for criticising Israel.” Piker said the UK revoked his visa “at the behest of Israel” and accused Western governments of abandoning liberal values. “Soon we will all become Israel,” Piker wrote.
Labour MP David Taylor, who had called for Piker to be barred from the UK before the decision, thanked the home secretary. “There’s no reason to open our doors to those who seek to spread hate and division, especially to those who’ve supported a proscribed terror group,” Taylor wrote on X.
The Community Security Trust, a Jewish community group, welcomed the decision. In a statement, the group said that while criticism of Israel is legitimate, Piker “has a record that goes far beyond robust or controversial political speech, including rhetoric that contains antisemitic themes.”
The Home Office did not publicly comment on the specific decisions. The BBC reported that a decision to cancel an ETA can be based on an assessment of the potential risk an individual might pose to the UK public good.
Critics of the decision included Green Party leader Zack Polanski, who called it “a really grim decision” and a “clear warning” that the Labour government was “doing everything possible to silence criticism of the Israeli government.” Liberty Human Rights group’s director, Akiko Hart, said any government decisions that restrict speech “must adhere to the very high standards set out in UK law” and that the government should be transparent about how and why decisions were made.
The UK has barred other high-profile figures this year. In May, the government blocked rapper Kanye West, now known as Ye, from entering the country after the Home Office said his presence would not be conducive to the public good. Last month, 11 individuals described by Prime Minister Keir Starmer as “far-right agitators” were denied entry ahead of a Tommy Robinson-led rally in central London, including US-based anti-Islam influencer Valentina Gomez.
SXSW London issued a statement saying it was aware of the visa revocations but that entry decisions were a matter for the Home Office and the individuals. The festival said it remained focused on delivering a programme of over 800 speakers, artists and screenings fostering “open dialogue and exchange of ideas.”
Piker and Uygur were scheduled to appear in panels titled “How The American Left Learned To Speak The Internet” and “Techno-Feudalism Is Here. Who Are The Lords?” Those sessions have now been removed from the programme, and the speakers’ profiles have been taken down from the SXSW London website.
Piker has a history of controversial statements. In a 2019 podcast he said “America deserved 9/11,” which he later acknowledged was inappropriate. He also said on the podcast Pod Save America that Hamas was “1,000 times better” than Israel and that he would “vote for Hamas over Israel every single time.” He told Variety last year that he is not antisemitic but is “anti-Israel.” Uygur has called Israel’s actions in Gaza “barbaric” and has faced criticism for what The Times described as antisemitic tropes, including claims that Israel controls America, as well as comments about grooming gangs.