Hasan Piker put SXSW London on blast Monday for not defending him after he and uncle Cenk Uygur were banned from entering the United Kingdom over previous criticisms they’ve made against Israel.
“SXSW was a minor part of my trip to the U.K.,” Piker wrote on X Monday. “They totally didn’t defend me or Cenk at all, they’re actual f–king losers and I will never work with them for the rest of my life. If you bought a ticket expecting to see me you should demand a refund.”
Kicking off Monday for the second year in London, the Austin, Texas-founded culture and arts festival was due to have Piker speak this week in conversation with British journalist and libertarian communist political activist Ash Sarkar.
A spokesperson for SXSW London said in a statement of Piker’s U.K. ban that he “will therefore not be participating in the SXSW London programme this year.”
“Decisions on entry to the U.K. are a matter for the Home Office and the individuals concerned,” the statement continued. “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.”
In a separate video on his Twitch page, Piker went in harder on the fest, calling SXSW’s statement “disgusting.”
“It’s not like they’re paying me, right? I’m not getting paid by SXSW to do this, right? It’s actually really insane. I’m doing this as a f—king favor and they’re literally farming donations off of my image off of my likeness,” he said. “Then it’s crazy that they just, once the Home Office intervened and revoked my visa, when the Home Office intervened and revoked my visa, SXSW’s statement was disgusting. Like, it was literally nothing.
“To us, they were like, ‘Sorry, we have to abide by the governemnt’s demands.’ That was one. And then their public thing was they just deleted my background page. They just deleted my speaker page.”
Piker’s missive against the festival came as journalist Sarkar rescinded her festival duties in solidarity. She was due to chair the SXSW discussion in addition to moderating a panel titled “Ctrl, Alt, Delusion: Resetting Reality in the Manosphere” and called on SXSW earlier Monday to host the Piker discussion remotely amid his visa ban. When the festival cut the panel altogether, she pulled out.
“I pulled out of SXSW London, and I hope other speakers and chairs do too,” Sarkar wrote on X, sharing a screenshot of the email she sent to festival organizers.
“Having read the SXSW statement on Hasan and Cenk being denied entry to the U.K., I’m afraid I have to withdraw my participation,” she wrote. “If I were in their shoes, I would hope any organization which invited me to speak, and had their programming interfered with by the Home Office, would have had the minimal expected integrity to offer some defense of lawful free expression and condemn government overreach.”
I pulled out of SXSW London, and I hope other speakers and chairs do too. https://t.co/qonIjztPFu pic.twitter.com/S8vmFKjRS7
— Ash Sarkar (@AyoCaesar) June 1, 2026
The Home Office explained in their own statement Monday that the decision to block Cenk and Piker’s visas was based “on the grounds that their presence in the U.K. may not be conducive to the public good. Decisions to refuse or cancel an ETA on these grounds are based solely on an assessment of the potential risk an individual may pose to U.K. society.”
Cenk and Piker maintained Sunday that their visas were revoked for the U.K. over previous statements against Israel.
“I’ve been banned from the UK,” Cenk wrote on X. “I tried to get on a flight to London to attend SXSW London and give a speech at Oxford. I’ve been banned for criticizing Israel. Are we free anymore? This is oppression of Western citizens by our own governments on behalf of a different country!”
“The UK has revoked my visa as well,” he wrote at the time, quote tweeting his uncle. “All at the behest of Israel. The West is betraying ‘liberal values’ for a genocidal fascist foreign government. Soon we will all become Israel.”
