Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Comedian Eric Andre Speaks Out After He Was Allegedly Racially Profiled At Australian Airport

Screenshots from Eric Andre's Instagram video
@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

The comedian spoke out in an Instagram video to warn his fans to 'please be careful' when flying through Melbourne after claiming he was the victim of racial harassment and discrimination at the airport in Australia.

Comedian and actor Eric Andre warned people of color (POC) to stay vigilant while traveling internationally after allegedly being harassed and discriminated against at the Melbourne Airport in Australia.

“It’s like one of the many times I’ve been racially profiled at the airport,” Andre said on an Instagram post, adding:


“So this is a message for all Black, brown, and Indigenous people traveling through Melbourne today ... please be careful.”

Andre is a Black, biracial comedian known for being the creator, host, and co-writer of the Adult Swim surreal comedy series The Eric Andre Showand for playing Luci on the Netflix series Disenchantment.

His mother is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent and his father was an Afro-Haitian immigrant. Andre identifies as both Black and Jewish.

The 41-year-old Boca Raton, Florida, native said he had been on several flights for 25 hours traveling from New York City with stops in LA and Melbourne to shoot for an undisclosed TV/film project.

Here is the Instagram clip.

"I got detained. I got pulled out of a lineup and put in a special line in Melbourne where I was sniffed thoroughly by a dog," said Andre.

Based on his assumption the animals were drug-detection dogs, Andre mentioned learning about their specific screening process at airports statistically being "80 to 90% ineffective."

Andre warned fellow non-White travelers through Melbourne to be aware of racial profiling scenarios, especially at Melbourne Airport Terminal 2 which services Qantas Airlines.

"Please be careful," he stressed. “They are searching Black, brown, and Indigenous people."

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

Andre also asked social media users to provide him with information if they knew the names of the agents involved in the detection dogs department at the location, as well as any Australian attorneys specializing in racial discrimination cases he could reach out to.

He also requested statistics relating to the percentages of POC passengers being selected for the high alert security line and White passengers going through the Melbourne airport.

In addition, Andre suggested that a future gig requiring him to travel Down Under would only be ideal under certain safety conditions.

"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,” he said.

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram


@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

He continued:

“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.”

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

In response to the incident, a spokesperson for the Australian airport said that the airport “does not tolerate racism in any form.”

The statement added:

"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.”

The spokesperson noted that the airport asked other Australian government agencies “in charge of processing all international arrivals into Australia” to investigate the situation and that “those agencies have now provided a response" to the actor.

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

Andre continued in the video:

“I don’t want to cut my hair and wear a three-piece suit so that I’m treated like a first-class citizen."
“I shouldn’t be made to feel that I am unaccepted by entering a country.”
"Shame on the people at the Melbourne airport. They have this cockamamie procedure. I doubt it yields any safer world for anybody in Melbourne, Australia."

He requested, again, for information if anyone had a lead shedding light on the dog sniffing procedure he called a “Giuliani stop-and-frisk-esque nonsense program."

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

@ericf**kingandre/Instagram

Andre was vocal about another racial profiling incident in 2021 at the Atlanta airport.

He and fellow comedian Clayton English, who is Black, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Atlanta alleging they were individually racially profiled and illegally searched on separate occasions six months apart by Clayton County police at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Andre said at the time:

“I have the resources to bring national attention and international attention to this incident. It’s not an isolated incident."
"If Black people don’t speak up for each other, who will?”

According to reports, he and English filed an appeal in January after the lawsuit was dismissed.

More from Entertainment/celebrities

YouTube screenshot of Hoda Kotb
TODAY/YouTube

Hota Kotb Gets Emotional Announcing She'll Be Leaving 'Today' Show—And Now We're All Sobbing

It's the end of an era for Today and for Hota Kotb, who tearfully announced on Thursday that she would be leaving the show early next year.

Kotb, who has been apart of the NBC family for nearly three decades, has most recently co-hosted the fourth hour of Today with Kathie Lee Gifford and then Jenna Bush Hager and co-anchored Today with Savannah Guthrie for the last five plus years.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Kamala Harris; Donald Trump
MSNBC; Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Harris Just Slipped In Another Epically Shady Dig At Trump's Rally Crowd Sizes During Interview

Vice President Kamala Harris had her supporters cracking up after she slipped in another shady dig at former President Donald Trump's rally crowd sizes during an interview with MSNBC's Stephanie Ruhle.

Harris sat down for the interview two weeks after she and Trump met for this election cycle's first—and likely only—presidential debate between the two of them ahead of November's general election. The event marked the first time Harris had ever actually met Trump in person and observers widely agreed she won it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Man smirking
Photo by Sazzad Aryan on Unsplash

The Biggest Loopholes People Have Managed To Exploit

We've all heard the saying that the best judge of character is how a person behaves when they believe they are not being watched.

But perhaps another smart measure would be what people are willing to do if they have the opportunity to take advantage of a loophole, and just how much they will exploit it.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk
Jared Siskin/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)

Brutal Article Reveals How A Biden Tweet Pushed Elon Musk Over The Edge In Pure Petty Fashion

Billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk may be one of the richest people in the world, but it seems he's also one of the thinnest-skinned.

In a New York Times op-ed, writer Michelle Goldberg shared an anecdote from Kate Conger and Ryan Mac's new book Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter, which chronicles the unmitigated sh*tshow that has been Musk's takeover of what is now known as X.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshot of Mike Johnson; Clay Higgins
C-SPAN; Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Mike Johnson Slammed For Downplaying GOP Rep's Racist Tweet About Haitians: 'He Prayed About It'

Speaker Mike Johnson was criticized after downplaying a now-deleted racist tweet about Haitian migrants by Louisiana's Republican Representative Clay Higgins.

In response to the news that a nonprofit leader representing the Haitian community filed charges against former President Donald Trump and his running mate, J.D. Vance, on Tuesday—citing the chaos and threats Springfield has faced since Trump first promoted the conspiracy theory that immigrants are eating people's pets—Higgins posted the following racist remarks from his official X account:

Keep ReadingShow less