US left-wing speaker Hasan Piker has criticised Channel 4 for an "ambush" interview about the UK Home Office revoking his visa.
The National reported in June how Piker, a political streamer with 1.9 million YouTube subscribers, has been blocked from coming to the UK as the Home Office decided his visit would not be “conducive to the public good”.
He was doorstepped by a Channel 4 reporter about the issue and said he would be reapplying for a visa now Andy Burnham is at No.10 after the "undemocratic" move by the Labour Government.
Piker shared the interview online describing it as an "ambush" by the broadcaster.
Sounding exasperated as he was asked about being banned from the UK, he said: "It's a sad state of affairs the Labour Government did such an undemocratic thing, but I guess that's the state of the world now, that's the state of liberal democracy now.
"I didn't have a problem going into the country under Tory leadership which clearly I'm at bigger odds with."
Piker was then asked if Abdul El-Sayed's campaign to clinch a seat in the US Senate would be damaged by his association with him, given the Home Office said he was not "conducive to the public good".
Piker said: "No I don't think so. The overwhelming majority of the Western world I think recognises that what Israel is doing is a genocide.
This is pathetic from channel 4. How can any outlet just parrot someone isn’t ’conducive to the public good’ without interrogating what that means? These people would drop basic liberties in a heartbeat. https://t.co/yNKWrQut1T
— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) August 4, 2026
"I think the media is playing catch-up at this point, but for the most part the people are pretty united on this issue and no matter how hard governments move in the direction of repression, you can't really hide from the truth and you can't really hide from the shame either.
"I personally thought the UK was a bastian of liberal democracy, that these values like freedom of expression were values that especially the Labour Government would be committed to.
"Hopefully there will be some attitude shifts happening with Burnham."
The Channel 4 presenter then appeared to defend the UK Government saying it was committed to those values before repeating that the Government considered Piker to not be "conducive to the public good" because of his rhetoric, which would "threaten" those values.
Novara Media co-founder Aaron Bastani described the interview from Channel 4 as "pathetic" on Twitter/X.
"This is pathetic from Channel 4," he posted.
"How can any outlet just parrot someone isn’t ’conducive to the public good’ without interrogating what that means?
"These people would drop basic liberties in a heartbeart."
Channel 4 has declined to comment.
Piker was banned from the UK alongside Cenk Uygur, the co-founder of the left-wing political programme The Young Turks.
Both Uygur and Piker alleged that they had been blocked due to their criticism of Israel, with Uygur saying: “This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!”
In June, Piker uploaded a YouTube video in which he read out a letter from the UK Government saying: “Your UK ETA has been cancelled. This means you cannot travel to the UK without a visa. This is because your presence in the UK is not considered to be conducive to the public good. You cannot appeal this decision.”
LBC host Lewis Goodall called the bans at the time “counter-productive, authoritarian and chilling”.
Piker told Channel 4 News that he understands some British Jews feel unsafe when anti-Israel criticism becomes antisemitic.
He added he has always been against antisemitism but believes there is a "false association" between Judaism and Zionism.
"Antisemitism is something I have fought back against. It is the canary in the coal mine of fascism," he said.
"I'm an anti-fascist. I am uncompromising on those values.
"The fear can sometimes be very valid and sometimes I think the fear steps into the territory of defending the nation state of Israel and its actions.
"It's not a secret that antisemitism has historically exploded in times of Israel's sieges in Gaza, and this time being the most consequential one, the most violent one, has also led to an increase in antisemitism.
"We believe that is partially borne out of this false association between Judaism and Zionism."
