A leftwing US political commentator has described the UK government\u2019s decision to ban him from entering the country as \u201chaunting and hilarious\u201d and \u201cKafkaesque\u201d.<\/p>\n
Cenk Uygur, the founder and a host on Young Turks, a well-established progressive media outlet, was banned earlier this week<\/a> from entering the UK to attend a speaking engagement alongside Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who has become a popular figure on the US political left.<\/p>\n The decision by the Home Office to cancel their electronic travel authorisations (ETA) because their presence in the UK \u201cmay not be conducive to the public good<\/a>\u201d has led to questions over government censorship of free speech, been criticised by the Green party leader, Zack Polanski, as \u201cgrim<\/a>\u201d, and described by the free speech advocates Index on Censorship as a \u201cworrying escalation<\/a>\u201d.<\/p>\n When asked about the government\u2019s decision on Thursday morning by Sky News, Uygur said: \u201cIt\u2019s both a little bit haunting and hilarious at the same time.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t really know what I\u2019m being charged with here,\u201d he added. \u201cAm I really not going to be allowed in Britain from now on? And how is someone who is almost religiously for nonviolence a threat to the public order?\u201d<\/p>\n The government has not commented on the specific reasons for the ban against Uygur, who travelled to the UK in 2025. Both Uygur and his nephew, Piker, were due to appear at SXSW London and will now speak virtually<\/a> at an event run by the Oxford Union Society which they were due to attend.<\/p>\n Any foreign national wanting to visit the UK needs permission to do so, either in the form of a visa or an ETA. Both can be refused for several reasons. The rules include wide discretionary powers for the home secretary to exclude individuals on the basis that their presence is \u201cnot conducive to the public good because of their conduct, character, associations or other reasons\u201d.<\/p>\n