Over the weekend, leftist Twitch streamer Hasan “HasanAbi” Piker and his uncle, The Young Turks co-creator Cenk Uygur, revealed that they’ve been banned from entering the UK ahead of planned speaking engagements at this week’s SXSW London event. Immediately following, critics of the decision urged SXSW to come out against what they viewed as free speech-eroding overreach. SXSW replied with a whole lot of nothing.
“We are aware that Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker are unable to travel to the UK following a decision by the Home Office,” SXSW said in a statement today. “They will therefore not be participating in the SXSW London programme this year. Decisions on entry to the UK are a matter for the Home Office and the individuals concerned. SXSW London’s role is to convene a broad range of diverse voices and perspectives. We remain focused on delivering a programme this week fostering open dialogue and exchange of ideas and featuring more than 800 speakers, artists and screenings.”
Piker and Uygur—who were scheduled to be on panels titled “How the American Left Learned to Speak the Internet” and “Techno-Feudalism is Here. Who Are the Lords?” respectively—have both contended that the UK made its determination based on their vocal criticism of Israel.
“The UK has revoked my visa,” Piker wrote on Twitter yesterday, echoing a similar post from his uncle. “All at the behest of Israel. The West is betraying ‘liberal values’ for a genocidal fascist foreign government. Soon we will all become Israel.”
Groups involved aren’t exactly trying to hide it.
“We understand that, following calls to do so from [Campaign Against Antisemitism] and others, Hasan Piker’s visa has been revoked and he is now barred from entering the United Kingdom,” Campaign Against Antisemitism, a prominent UK-based, pro-Israel NGO, wrote on Twitter. “Being a guest in this country is a privilege, not a given. This country has no need of people who have previously spewed hateful drivel about Jews and made pro-terrorist remarks.”
In a statement to Variety, a rep for the UK’s Home Office said that the pair’s Electronic Travel Authorisations had been revoked “on the grounds that their presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public good” and added that “decisions to refuse or cancel an ETA on these grounds are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to UK society.”
According to The Times of London, criticism of Israel played a major role in the ban: “The decision to block Uygur from travelling to the UK is understood to have been based on several grounds,” the publication wrote, “including fears that his presence would risk exacerbating antisemitism due to his rhetoric since the October 7 attacks in 2023.”
This is far from the first time Piker’s long history of anti-Israel rhetoric—stemming from Israel’s ongoing apartheid and genocide of Palestinians—has been conflated with antisemitism to further the ends of politicians. Last month, two members of the US House of Representatives, Democrat Josh Gottheimer and Republican Mike Lawler, introduced a bipartisan resolution “condemning the rise of antisemitic, hate-filled rhetoric disseminated by prominent online personalities,” focusing specifically on Piker (as well as Candace Owens, who is an actual antisemitic conspiracy theorist).
SXSW presents itself as a high-minded, tech-oriented destination for creatives. Back in 2024, it found itself in the crosshairs of controversy around a similar issue, when more than 80 artists withdrew from the organization’s flagship Austin event in support of Palestine and in protest of SXSW’s partnerships with the US Army and the defense contractor RTX Corporation. Ultimately, SXSW discontinued those partnerships.
Some participants have now withdrawn from SXSW London.
“Having read the SXSW statement on Hasan and Cenk being denied entry to the UK, I'm afraid I have to withdraw my participation,” wrote Minority Rule author and Novara Media contributing editor Ash Sarkar. “If I were in their shoes, I would hope that any organisation which invited me to speak, and had their programming interfered with by the Home Office, would have had the minimal expected integrity to offer some defence of lawful free expression and condemn government overreach.”
Zara Rahim, a communications specialist and political advisor who was set to join Piker on his panel, offered an even more vociferous rebuke of SXSW.
“The entire premise of our panel was rooted in examining why audiences increasingly distrust institutions, gatekeepers, and traditional power structures political discourse, and whose voices are permitted legitimacy in public life,” she wrote on Instagram. “There's an obvious irony in hosting a conference about the future of media, democracy, dissent, and political power while responding so cautiously to the banning of one of the most influential political commentators from even entering the country. … I appreciate everyone's time and the work that went into putting this together, but under the circumstances, stepping away feels like the only option for me.”
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Nathan Grayson
