US comedian Eric Andre says he was ‘racially profiled’ at Melbourne Airport

The Emmy-nominated comedian said he felt ‘unsafe’ after being placed in a line where he was ‘sniffed thoroughly by a dog’: ‘I shouldn’t be made to feel that I am unaccented by entering a country.’

Comedian Eric Andre.

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US comedian Eric André says he was racially profiled while travelling through Melbourne Airport on Monday, claiming that border officials were targeting “Black, brown and Indigenous people.”

In a video shared to social media André, 41, said he had just been through a 25-hour trip, flying from New York to his final destination in Brisbane, when he “got pulled out of a line-up,” while going through security in Melbourne.

André said he was “put in a special line” where he was “sniffed thoroughly by a dog.”

“It’s one of the many times I’ve been racially profiled at the airport,” he added. “So, this is a message for all Black, brown, and Indigenous people travelling through Melbourne today, especially if you’re travelling through Qantas International by Terminal 2: Please be careful.”

The Emmy-nominated comedian, who is currently in Australia touring The Eric Andre Show Live across the East Coast, said that after the experience, he will expect any future clients hoping to bring him to Australia to route his travel through alternative airports, and to provide some kind of security escort to ensure his safety. “I do not feel safe in the Melbourne Airport. I do not want to be humiliated or racially discriminated against anymore at these airports,” he said.

“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 unaccented by entering a country. Shame on the people at the Melbourne Airport that have this cockamamie procedure. I doubt it yields any safer world for anybody in Melbourne or Australia.”

In the video, André questioned the effectiveness of sniffer dog screening programs, saying that the measures have “nothing to do with safety” but “everything to do with racial harassment.”

He likened the practice to former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani’s controversial “stop-and-frisk-esque nonsense program,” a once-widespread practice that allowed police officers to stop residents for what they deemed ‘suspicious’ behaviour.“

André asked his followers to send him the Melbourne Airport complaints line and the contact details for any Australian discrimination lawyers in response to the incident.

He also asked his followed to send him statististics on how many “people of colour they put into this dog-sniffing line” in comparison to white passengers.

Melbourne Airport commented on André’s Instagram post, saying they were following up on the complaint with the Australian Border Force and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry “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 airport said.