A LONDON festival has spoken out after two left-wing speakers due to appear at the event were banned from entering the UK by the Labour Government.
SXSW London issued the statement following the UK Government’s decision to bar entry of two popular political personalities Hasan Piker and Cenk Uygur over concerns of alleged "antisemitism".
Piker, a streamer with 1.9 million Youtube subscribers, and Uygur, the co-founder of the left-wing political programme The Young Turks, were denied entry by the Home Office on Monday.
A spokesperson for SXSW London said: “We are aware that Cenk Uygur and Hasan Piker are unable to travel to the UK following a decision by the Home Office. Decisions on entry to the UK are a matter for the Home Office and the individuals concerned. SXSW London’s role is to convene a broad range of diverse voices and perspectives. We remain focused on delivering a programme this week fostering open dialogue and exchange of ideas and featuring more than 800 speakers, artists and screenings.”
SXSW London describes itself as a “global festival for the convergence of business, technology and creativity”, hosted this week across Hoxton and Shoreditch.
Originating in 2025 as the first European offshoot of the originally Texan "South by Southwest" event, the festival held over 20,000 visitors.
Both men were scheduled as speakers at the festival, with Uygur involved in a session on Wednesday called “Techno-Feudalism is Here. Who Are the Lords?”, whilst Piker’s arranged panel on Thursday was entitled “How the American Left Learned to Speak the Internet".
The men were barred due to concerns over "antisemitic" comments regarding Israel and Hamas. In an interview with Variety last year, Piker said he was not antisemitic, but "anti-Israel".
Left-wing commentator Ash Sarkar was due to panel Piker’s session, commenting on X that the decision makes it “abundantly clear that the UK Government has put Israel at the heart of its policymaking”, motivated by “an authoritarian turn motivated by Labour’s fear of being called antisemitic".
