Source: Michael Tran / Getty
Oddball funnyman Eric Andre spent a good part of last year in Atlanta filming Bad Trip with fellow comedians Tiffany Haddish and Lil Rel Howery. But Andre certainly was not laughing yesterday, on April 21, saying law enforcement officials detained him at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport.
“I was just racially profiled by two plain clothes Atlanta PD police in Delta terminal T3 at the Atlanta airport,” he tweeted. “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.”
Although he was able to board his plane without further incident, Andre continued to release a series of tweets in which he tagged Delta Airlines, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and even Atlanta mayor Keisha Bottoms to vent his frustration. “At that moment, I was the only [person of color] on line,” read one of his posts. “@KeishaBottoms I know this isn’t the PD you want representing in your airports. #racism #racialprofiling #jimcrow #racistwarondrugs @delta.”
While Delta Airlines has yet to release any statement about the episode, the Atlanta Police Department verified that its personnel had no interaction with Andre. APD spokesman Sgt. John Chafee told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “As soon as we learned of Mr. Andre’s complaint, we began gathering information on what occurred. We have determined the Atlanta Police Department was not involved in this interaction.” However, Sgt. Chafee did note there can be multiple law enforcement agencies patrolling KATL at any given time.
Then, a little bit after 7 p.m. last night, the Clayton County Police Department issued a news release with information that contrasted the comedian’s recollection. “Mr. Andre chose to speak with investigators during the initial encounter,” the CCPD said. “During the encounter, Mr. Andre voluntarily provided the investigators’ information as to his travel plans. Mr. Andre also voluntarily consented to a search of his luggage, but the investigators chose not to do so. Investigators identified that there was no reason to continue a conversation and therefore terminated the encounter.”
For her part, Mayor Bottoms expressed her sympathies for Andre’s “bad trip” but also highlighted that the APD was not involved and that her office was looking into his complaints. Atlanta’s 11Alive News anchor Francesca Amiker reported this morning that the CCPD made no statement on Andre’s claims of racial profiling, and the comedian is now pursuing legal aid with regard to the brouhaha.
