Bollywood sensation Shah Rukh Khan, 46, was stopped on his arrival to New York by immigrations officials after getting off a jet from India.
Khan was detained for over an hour, subject to intensive questioning, despite being invited to lecture at Yale University.
He was hours late for the event and the episode has prompted a formal apology from U.S. officials.
We apologize for any inconvenience that Mr Shah Rukh Khan may have experienced,' a statement from U.S. Embassy spokesman Peter Vrooman read.
Khan's plane landed at a White Plains airport on Thursday with Nita Ambani, the wife of India's richest industrialist, Mukesh Ambani.
The plane was a private jet belonging to the Ambanis, who's daughter attends Yale University and sits as the university's South Asian Society chair.
The questioning caused Khan to be almost three hours late to his lecture, where he was being honored as a Chubb Fellow.
The Chubb Fellowship is meant to allow Yale students intimate access to discuss international issues and 'the challenges and pleasures of public life' with it's winner.
Khan drew on his experience with immigration to begin his speech.
