Left-wing political commentator Cenk Uygur and his nephew Hasan Bekir have been banned from entering the UK by the government’s Home Office. Hollywood Reporter And he confirmed. This will mean that they can no longer participate in the scheduled SXSW London matches.
A representative of the Ministry of Interior said THR On Monday the couple’s Electronic Travel Authorization (ETA) was revoked on the grounds that their “presence in the UK may not be conducive to the public interest”. They added: “Decisions to refuse or cancel an ETA on these grounds are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk the individual may pose to UK society.”
On social media, Uighurs host populist political talk shows Young TurksHe said he was banned because he “criticized Israel.”
“I tried to catch a flight to London to attend the SXSW conference in London and give a speech in Oxford. I was banned for criticizing Israel,” he wrote. “Are we free anymore? This is the persecution of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of another country.”
Baker responded to his uncle’s post, adding: “The UK has also canceled my visa. All at the request of Israel,” saying the West was “betraying” liberal values ”for a genocidal fascist foreign government.” The two men condemned Israel for its war on Gaza following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on an Israeli music festival. Since then, 70,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health.
according to times, It is understood that the decision to ban the entry of Uyghurs was based on concerns that their presence could lead to “exacerbation of anti-Semitism”. He has been accused of spreading anti-Semitic tropes through his platform, such as the phrase “Israel controls America.”
The SXSW team describes Baker, who has more than three million followers on Twitch and more than 1.5 million on X, as “redefining what political commentary looks like in the digital age.” He had previously said that Hamas was “1,000 times better” than Israel, and faced criticism for claiming that he would “vote for Hamas at the expense of Israel every time,” in an episode of his program. Pod Save America.
Uighur was supposed to appear at a SXSW panel in London on Wednesday titled “Techno-Feudalism is Here. Who Are the Lords?” The panel that Baker planned to hold on Thursday was titled “How the American Left Learned to Speak Online.”
Ash Sarkar, a journalist at Novara Media who was due to chair Baker’s panel at SXSW in London, told
The UK-based Jewish organization Community Security Trust urged SXSW last week to “act responsibly” and not allow the UK to be a “platform” for Baker.
You may recall that Kanye West’s expected arrival time was canceled shortly before he was set to headline the now-canceled Wireless Music Festival in April, due to the rapper’s historic anti-Semitism.
THR Off to SXSW London for comment.
