Posted by Eric Andre has claimed he was “racially profiled” during a drugs search at an Atlanta airport.
The artist was attempting to board his plane when he was stopped by members of security at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.
In a social media post describing the incident, Eric Andre said he was stopped for a “random” drugs search, and he questioned their methods.
“I was just racially profiled by two plain clothes Atlanta PD police in Delta terminal T3 at the Atlanta airport. They stopped me on the way down the bridge to the plane for a ‘random’ search and asked they could search me for drugs. I told them no. Be careful.”
@Atlanta_Police “I was just racially profiled by two plain clothes Atlanta PD police in @Delta terminal T3 at the Atlanta airport. They stopped me on the way down the bridge to the plane for a “random” search and asked they could search me for drugs. I told them no. Be careful.
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 21, 2021
Using social media to voice his complaints, Eric Andre accused airport staff of “harassing” him, and behaviour fuelled by “racism”.
I did NOT volunteer to a search and I did not volunteer to talk. You guys flashed your badge and detained me with no probable cause except for racism. This is JIM CROW RACISM @ClaytonCountyPD I DID NOT VOLUNTEER TO A SEARCH. YOU ARE HARASSING ME. THIS IS RACISM! @KeishaBottoms
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 22, 2021
This is sad and full of misinformation @KeishaBottoms please help me. @ClaytonCountyPD violated my rights pic.twitter.com/HSza58R7xQ
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 22, 2021
The airport later issued an official statement:
Responding to @ericandre tweet this afternoon. pic.twitter.com/seRJPszHFi
— Atlanta Airport (@ATLairport) April 22, 2021
Allowed to enter his flight, Eric Andre was left deeply disappointed by the behaviour he had witnessed:
So glad to hear Atlanta PD doesn’t operate like this, but who was the agency that interrogated me and why does ATL allow an agency with those kinds of random search rules to operate in one of the busiest airports in the world? @DEAHQ @KeishaBottoms
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 21, 2021
Minority communities in America have frequently complained of racial profiling from airport security teams – Travel Pulse published an in-depth report on this in 2020.
The issue isn’t confined to the United States – here’s a Guardian report from 2016 focussing on British experiences.
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