An Australian musician has been forced to cut short his North America tour after officials banned him from re-entering the US, prompting an apology from his girlfriend over an online post referring to Donald Trump.
Keli Holiday, best known as one half of electronic duo Peking Duk, had already performed several shows in the US when he travelled to the Canadian city of Toronto.
Last Friday, he tried to return for a gig in New York, but was “detained” at the border “despite having the proper visa documentation,” Holiday said.
Separately, on Tuesday, his partner, podcaster and TV host Abbie Chatfield, apologised for a July 2025 post critical of Trump, saying Holiday had not been aware of it.
Holiday, whose real name is Adam Hyde, posted about the incident at the US-Canada border over the weekend.
“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 on social media.
“I’m still trying to get clarity on the situation myself.”
On Tuesday, Chatfield said she wanted to apologise for a video she posted last year after apparent online speculation that it could be behind Holiday’s ban.
In the video she had spoken about Luigi Mangione, the US man who allegedly shot dead Brian Thompson, the head of UnitedHealthcare, in December 2024.
Mangione is due to face state and federal trials later this year for the alleged murder.
“A video that I posted a year ago has come back to haunt me, essentially,” Chatfield said on Tuesday, shortly after it was confirmed that Holiday had returned home to Australia.
Chatfield said her old video had been misinterpreted and she had not called for any political violence against Donald Trump.
She said there had been “no clear reason” given for Holiday’s ban, but that people were “conflating” it with her 2025 post.
“I also want to make it clear Adam hadn’t even seen this video, so any vitriol toward him is unwarranted,” she said in the ten-minute long video.
The incident comes months after the US proposed new rules for tourists, with foreign visitors to be asked to provide a five-year social media history as a condition of entry.
By BBC News
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
