American comedian Eric André says he was racially profiled at Melbourne Airport in Australia.
André, the Emmy-nominated host of “The Eric André Show,” said he was traveling from Los Angeles to Brisbane for a shoot and had a stopover in Melbourne, where he was “put in a special line” and “sniffed thoroughly by a dog.”
“It’s one of the many times I’ve been racially profiled at the airport,” André, 41, said in an Instagram video Sunday, warning viewers flying through Melbourne to “please be careful.”
“They are searching Black, brown and Indigenous people,” he said.
A spokesperson for the airport said in a statement Tuesday that “Melbourne Airport does not tolerate racism in any form.”
“We welcome all passengers to Melbourne, and we expect everyone to be treated equally,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the airport had asked the Australian Border Force and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF) to investigate and that those agencies had responded to André.
In a statement, a DAFF spokesperson said all passengers arriving in Australia are “part of biosecurity screening processes for things such as fresh fruit or vegetables, plants and food, or soil on footwear or recreational equipment.”
As part of the screening, the spokesperson said, travelers might be subjected to baggage scans through X-rays or “be subject to individual inspections and unpacking of baggage, or by general screening with the assistance of our highly trained dogs.”
“Any traveler coming into Australia will experience some or all of these screening measures,” the spokesperson added.
The Australian Border Force referred NBC News to its comment on André’s Instagram post Monday that it was not involved in the incident.
André asked anyone hiring him for future work in Australia to provide him with a security escort through Melbourne Airport or allow him to avoid it altogether.
“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.
He asked his followers for leads on discrimination lawyers in Australia, as well as information about what he called a “Giuliani stop-and-frisk-esque nonsense program,” which he criticized as ineffective.
“I don’t want to cut my hair and wear a three-piece suit so that I’m treated like a first-class citizen,” André said in the video. “I shouldn’t be made to feel that I am unaccepted by entering a country.”
Two years ago, André and fellow comedian and actor Clayton English sued over a drug search program at the Atlanta airport, saying police had racially profiled and illegally stopped them. They filed an appeal in January after the lawsuit was dismissed.
