An established Australian electronic musician has seen his cross-continental North American tour cut abruptly short after United States border officials barred him from re-entering the country, a turn of events that has prompted a public apology from his television personality girlfriend over a years-old social media post touching on former US president Donald Trump.
Keli Holiday, legally known as Adam Hyde and one half of the popular Australian electronic duo Peking Duk, had already completed a string of scheduled performances across the United States before crossing the northern border to play a show in Toronto, Canada. Last Friday, as he prepared to return to the US for a planned gig in New York City, he was detained during border processing and ultimately refused entry — a rejection that came even though he held all required, valid visa documentation, according to Holiday’s own account.
The artist shared details of his frustrating border ordeal with followers over the weekend via social media. “I have spent all day detained at the Canadian border and denied entry back into the US despite having the proper visa documentation in place,” he wrote. “I’m still trying to get clarity on the situation myself.”
By Tuesday, after confirmation that Holiday had returned to his home country of Australia, his partner Abbie Chatfield — a well-known Australian TV host — released a public statement addressing widespread online speculation that an old social media post of hers was the root cause of the entry ban. Chatfield issued an apology for the July 2025 video post, which had drawn attention over its critical commentary about Trump, and clarified that Holiday had never even seen the content before the incident.
In the resurfaced video, Chatfield had made reference to Luigi Mangione, the US man accused of murdering UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson in a December 2024 shooting. Mangione is scheduled to face separate state and federal murder trials later in 2026. Chatfield pushed back against misinterpretations of her comments, insisting she never advocated for political violence targeting Trump. “I also want to make it clear Adam hadn’t even seen this video, so any vitriol toward him is unwarranted,” she said in a 10-minute explanatory video released Tuesday.
This high-profile entry ban comes amid a shifting US immigration and entry policy landscape: just months prior, US authorities proposed sweeping new entry rules that would require most foreign tourists to submit five years of personal social media history as a mandatory condition for gaining entry to the country. The BBC has reached out to Holiday’s management team for additional comment on the incident, with no further statement released as of publication.