Comedian Eric André says he was racially profiled at Melbourne Airport: ‘It’s one of the many times’
Eric André is detailing an alleged run-in with security at Melbourne Airport in Australia.
The comedian shared in an Instagram video Sunday that he was “racially profiled” during a 25-hour trip, which included stops in Los Angeles, Melbourne and Brisbane, Australia, for a shoot.
However, during his stop in Melbourne, André told his followers that he was “detained” and “pulled out of a lineup and put in a special line” to be “sniffed thoroughly by a dog.”
“Those dogs are pretty much ineffective,” the 41-year-old said. “It’s one of the many times I’ve been racially profiled at the airport. So this is a message for all black, brown, and Indigenous people traveling through Melbourne today, especially if you’re traveling through Qantas International by Terminal 2: Please be careful.”
Throughout his video, André called on followers for help finding a slew of information.
He first asked his followers for any “information on a discrimination Australian lawyer, I’m all ears.”
André then inquired about statistics on how many “people of color they put into this dog-sniffing line” in comparison to white passengers.
“They are searching black, brown, and Indigenous people,” the actor continued. “Please let me know if anybody knows the names of those officers with the dogs or what that program is.”
André again asked for information on the program, which he called a “Giuliani stop-and-frisk-esque nonsense program.”
He slammed the program, calling it “less than safe” for black, brown, and Indigenous airline passengers and “unethical.”
“It has nothing to do with safety,” André said. “It has everything to do with racial harassment.”
“Anybody hiring me to work in Australia going forward, whether it’s a production or a tour, please don’t make me go through the Melbourne Airport alone,” André later said in his video message. “Please provide a police escort or some type of security escort for me, or have me fly into Brisbane or Sydney directly. I do not feel safe in the Melbourne Airport. I do not want to be humiliated or racially discriminated against anymore at these airports.”
“I don’t want to cut my hair and wear a three-piece suit so that I’m treated like a first-class citizen,” the writer noted.
“I shouldn’t be made to feel that I am unaccepted by entering a country. Shame on the people at the Melbourne Airport that have this cockamamie procedure,” André expressed. “I doubt it yields any safer world for anybody in Melbourne or Australia.”
Beneath his Instagram, Melbourne Airport’s official Instagram account responded with a message addressed to “Eric,” stating the airport “does not tolerate racism in any form.”
“We are following up your complaint with the Australian Border Force (ABF) and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) who are in charge of processing all international arrivals at Melbourne Airport and other Australian international gateways,” the comment read. “Melbourne Airport is proudly the gateway to one of the most multicultural cities in the world. We welcome ALL passengers to Melbourne, and we expect everyone to be treated equally.”
André previously claimed he was racially profiled at the Atlanta Hartsfield–Jackson International Airport in 2021 before later taking legal action.
“I was just racially profiled by two plain clothes Atlanta PD police in @Delta terminal T3 at the Atlanta airport,” he wrote on X at the time, tagging Atlanta PD. “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.”
