André, English Reach Atlanta Profiling Settlement

Eric André and Clayton English reached a settlement with Clayton County over a federal civil rights lawsuit accusing airport police of racially profiling them and conducting coercive drug searches on jet bridges in 2020 and 2021. The agreement states the county has ended the program, will require officers assigned to the airport to wear body-worn cameras, and will provide training on constitutional limits, with no admission of fault disclosed. The settlement provides about $30,000 total to the entertainers, split roughly evenly, and confirms the program has been shut down. The lawsuit, filed in October 2022, drew notable support from celebrities and civil rights groups; after an initial dismissal in 2023, the Eleventh Circuit revived parts of the case in 2025. The incidents involved English on October 30, 2020 and André on April 21, 2021, during searches at the jet bridge in Atlanta, with claims that officers blocked their paths and questioned them about drugs. The lawyers described the outcome as a major victory and emphasized concrete safeguards to prevent future abuse, including body cameras and improved training.