A LEFT-WING US speaker has issued a scathing response after he was banned from entering the UK.
Hasan Piker, a political streamer and internet personality, and Cenk Uygur, the co-founder of the left-wing political programme The Young Turks, were both blocked from coming to the UK for the SXSW London 2026 festival by Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood.
The UK Government has refused to comment on the cases amid a growing backlash over the decision, with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Green leader Zack Polanski – both of whom were set to meet with Piker during his UK visit – branding the move "absurd" and calling the Labour Party "authoritarian".
Piker, who is one of the most-watched political streamers in the world – with 1.9 million YouTube subscribers and more than three million subscribers on streaming platform Twitch, read out a letter he had been sent in which he was told that his “presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good”.
The streamer, who is known for his pro-Palestine views and frequently criticises the Israeli government, said the UK had revoked his visa "at the behest of Israel", adding that "the west is betraying 'liberal values' for a genocidal fascist foreign government".
He later said on social media: "I've been fighting the far right for a decade plus. I never would've imagined a labor govt [sic] would ban me from entering the UK.
"Dark times ahead for the west."
i’ve been fighting the far right for a decade plus. i never would’ve imagined a labor govt would ban me from entering the uk. dark times ahead for the west. liberalism is dead, maga fascism and it’s corrosive influence is felt everywhere.
— hasanabi (@hasanthehun) June 1, 2026
And in a comment provided to The National on Tuesday, Piker further condemned the Home Office decision, saying: "The UK had a long history of defending free expression and due process.
"These concepts are falling by the wayside at the behest of a foreign apartheid state and its expansionist interests in the Middle East."
Piker branded the move a "real crisis of democracy", as he continued: "Israel is a pariah state for good reason.
"It cannot defend its repugnant belligerence, so it will continue to demand state repression with cynical smears of antisemitism, which only feeds in to the just anger people feel towards the genocidal apartheid entity."
