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Turkish-American political commentator Cenk Uygur and Turkish-American online broadcaster Hasan Piker said on Sunday that they had been barred from entering the United Kingdom, claiming British authorities cited their public comments about Israel as the reason for the decision.
Uygur, co-founder of The Young Turks, said he learned of the restriction while attempting to board a flight to London, where he was scheduled to attend the SXSW London festival and deliver a speech at Oxford.
In a series of posts on X, Uygur said British authorities informed him that he had been deemed “a serious risk to the public order.”
“The British government is saying they're banning me because I am ‘a serious risk to the public order’ due to my criticism of Israel,” he wrote.
Uygur also said authorities termed his assertions regarding Israeli influence in U.S. politics antisemitic, despite his insistence that his remarks were factual.
He argued that he was not denied entry into the country because of comments about the United Kingdom itself, but rather because of statements made in the United States concerning Israel.
“This is absolutely Kafkaesque,” he wrote, criticizing what he described as a contradiction in the government's reasoning.
Piker, a political commentator and popular live streamer, later said in a post on X that his U.K. visa had also been revoked as he prepared to travel to the same event.
“The U.K. has revoked my visa as well,” he wrote, alleging that the decision was linked to his criticism of Israel.
Neither Uygur nor Piker shared official documentation from British authorities detailing the reasons for the reported decisions.
The reported restrictions come weeks after British authorities barred U.S. rapper Ye from entering the country, citing his history of antisemitic remarks.
British officials defended that decision despite appeals from event organizers and public statements by the artist seeking reconsideration.
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