The UK Home Office revoked the visas of Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker, blocking the two US commentators from entering the country just as they were due to appear at SXSW London and speak in Oxford. Uygur said he tried to board a flight to London for the festival and the university event before learning he had been barred.
The move landed on the same week the pair were set to take part in one of London’s newer public forums, a six-day event in Shoreditch that brings together talks on business, technology, music, film and culture. For Uygur, the timing turned a scheduled speech into a public fight over who gets to cross the border and who gets shut out.
Uygur, who co-founded and hosts The Young Turks on YouTube, said: “I've been banned from the UK.” He added: “I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I've been banned for criticising Israel. Are we free any more?” Hasan said on social media that the UK had revoked his visa “at the behest of Israel,” while Uygur described the move as “oppression of western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country.”
The Home Office has not given a detailed public explanation for the revocations, but it is understood both men had their Electronic Travel Authorisation cancelled. Such a decision can be based on an assessment of the potential risk a person might pose to the UK public good. That leaves the government with a choice it has not yet fully defended in public: whether it was acting on security grounds, political pressure or both.
The backlash is sharpened by what the two commentators have said in public. Piker, a Twitch streamer and political commentator, has come under fire for making pro-Hamas comments. Uygur has called Israel’s actions in Gaza barbaric. Last week, Labour MP David Taylor called for Piker to be barred from entering the UK and later thanked the home secretary for the decision, saying there was “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.”
For SXSW London, the practical effect was immediate: a spokesperson said the festival knew the pair were unable to travel because the Home Office had revoked their visas. What remains unresolved is whether the government will say more about why these two speakers were denied entry, or whether this is the point at which the border decision becomes the message.
