Comedians sue over drug search program at Atlanta airport

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October 11, 2022

By Kate Brumback, NBC News

Comedian Eric André at a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Atlanta, on Oct. 11, 2022. (Kate Brumback / AP)

Comedians Eric André and Clayton English are challenging a police program at the Atlanta airport that they say violates the constitutional rights of airline passengers, particularly Black passengers, through racial profiling and coercive searches just as they are about to board their flights.

Lawyers for the two men sued Tuesday in federal court in Atlanta alleging Clayton County police racially profiled and illegally stopped them at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

The two men, well-known comedians and actors, say officers singled them out during separate stops about six months apart because they are Black and grilled them about drugs as other passengers watched.

“People were gawking at me, and I looked suspicious when I had done nothing wrong,” André said in an interview, calling the experience “dehumanizing and demoralizing.”

While the stated purpose of the program is to fight drug trafficking, the lawsuit says, drugs are rarely found, criminal charges seldom result, and seized cash provides a financial windfall for the police department.

Read about the case.

Airports are a common site for racial profiling.

Our breaking news covers racial profiling and the racism that leads to it.

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