UK Bars Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur Over Past Controversial Statements Ahead of SXSW London

Hasan Piker was barred from entering the United Kingdom after attempting to board a flight to London for the SXSW London festival and a planned speech at Oxford. Piker stated on a Twitch stream that the UK had revoked his visa. ” Piker posted that he had visited the UK on numerous occasions and that the statements now cited were not new.

Cenk Uygur, founder of The Young Turks and Piker’s uncle, was also blocked. Uygur posted on X on Sunday that his visa had been canceled and that he had been scheduled to appear at the same SXSW event. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ruled that Uygur’s appearance was not “conducive to the public good,” according to the Times of London.

The UK Home Office has not issued a comment on Piker’s case. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sent Piker an administrative subpoena seeking financial, logistical, and communications records tied to his March trip to Cuba. -sanctioned hotel during the visit.

He also stated in 2019 that “America deserved 9/11,” a remark he later called inappropriate. British lawmakers referenced such statements when urging the visa revocation.