Eric Andre has shared a series of tweets saying he was racially profiled by plain-clothes police at an Atlanta airport this week.
Taking to social media yesterday (April 21), Andre said he was boarding a flight at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport when he was stopped for a “random” search for drugs, but, he said, was “the only POC [in] line.”
Tweeting the Atlanta Police Department, Andre wrote: “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 ârandomâ search and asked they could search me for drugs. I told them no. Be careful.”
@Atlanta_Police âI 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 ârandomâ search and asked they could search me for drugs. I told them no. Be careful.
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 21, 2021
Later on, having boarded the plane, Andre tweeted: “Iâm fine now but I want this reported,” before addressing Atlanta Mayor Keisha Bottoms in a separate tweet. “At that moment, I was the only POC on line,” he wrote to the mayor. “I know this isnât the PD you want representing in your airports.”
Bottoms then replied: “Sorry to hear about your experience. Itâs my understanding that this was not APD, but another one of the many agencies working in the airport.”
They let me go. Iâm on the plane in the air. Iâm fine now but I want this reported. Please any Atlanta lawyer reach out to me. @KeishaBottoms #racialprofiling #jimcrowgeorgia terminal T3 Atlanta airport.
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 21, 2021
At that moment, I was the only POC on line. @KeishaBottoms I know this isnât the PD you want representing in your airports. #racism #racialprofiling #jimcrow #racistwarondrugs @delta
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 21, 2021
If anyone is at Atlanta airport gate T3 @delta let me know the officers names so I can file a complaint.
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 21, 2021
Hearing it might be @DEAHQ at gate T3 racially profiling passengers and not the @Atlanta_Police does anyone have answers? @Delta @POTUS @KeishaBottoms
— Eric Andre (@ericandre) April 21, 2021
Sorry to hear about your experience. Itâs my understanding that this was not APD, but another one of the many agencies working in the airport. We are working to confirm. https://t.co/PhhCMxDbM2
— Keisha Lance Bottoms (@KeishaBottoms) April 21, 2021
Following Bottoms’ clarification, Andre questioned the agencies she referred to, writing: “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?”
So glad to hear Atlanta PD doesnât 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
Last year, Andre revealed that he refused to cut a joke about the police from his new Netflix comedy special, blaming “middle-aged White people” for asking him to do so.
Legalize Everything, which premiered last June, sees Andre pose as a police officer in the first sketch, dealing drugs in New Orleans.
Andre explained that Netflix employees asked him to cut the joke in light of the Black Lives Matter protests around the world at the time following the death of George Floyd.
The comedian explained how he refused, saying: “I’m like, no, guys! This is the best time to do these jokes. This is what we need!”
The post Eric Andre says he was racially profiled at an airport in Atlanta appeared first on NME.
