Comedians Eric André and Clayton English settle lawsuit over drug search program at Atlanta airport

ATLANTA (AP) — Comedians Eric André and Clayton English have reached a settlement in a lawsuit they filed challenging a police program at the Atlanta airport that they said used racial profiling and coercive searches just as airline passengers, particularly Black passengers, were about to board their flights.

The lawsuit, originally filed in October 2022, alleged that the two men were racially profiled and illegally stopped by Clayton County police at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. The settlement agreement, announced Tuesday by the pair's lawyers, does not include an admission of fault or liability but says the county has ended the program at issue and has no intention to reactivate it.

Both men said officers at the airport singled them out because they were Black and grilled them about drugs while other passengers watched during separate stops about six months apart. In an interview when the lawsuit was filed, André called the experience “dehumanizing and demoralizing.”

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

“It’s a major victory that Clayton County has confirmed that it has ended this program and is now taking steps to prevent this type of abuse from happening in the future,” André said in a press release.

“What happened to me was wrong, and I wasn’t willing to let it happen to other people,” English said in the release.

A county spokesperson did not immediately respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the settlement agreement.

The county Board of Commissioners authorized a payment of $30,000, with half going to each comedian, as part of the settlement, according to minutes from the board's Aug. 4 meeting.

The county also agreed to require police officers assigned to the airport to use body-worn cameras and to undergo training on constitutional limits regarding police encounters at airports, the settlement says.

Police records cited in the lawsuit showed that from Aug. 30, 2020, to April 30, 2021, there were 402 jet bridge stops, and the passenger’s race was listed for 378 of those stops. Of those 378 passengers, 211, or 56%, were Black, and people of color accounted for 258 total stops, or 68%, the lawsuit said.

Those 402 stops resulted in three reported drug seizures: about 10 grams of drugs from one passenger, 26 grams of “suspected THC gummies” from another, and six prescription pills without a prescription from a third, the lawsuit said. Only the first and third person were charged.

Those 402 stops also yielded more than $1 million in cash and money orders from a total of 25 passengers. All but one were allowed to continue their travels, and only two — the ones who also had drugs — were charged, the lawsuit said. Eight of the 25 challenged the seizures, and Clayton County police settled each case, returning much of the seized money, the lawsuit said.

FILE - Comedians Clayton English, center, and Eric André, right, speak with their attorney, Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, outside the federal courthouse in Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2022. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File)

FILE - Comedian Eric André, right, speaks at a news conference outside the federal courthouse in Atlanta on Oct. 11, 2022, as his attorneys Allegra Lawrence-Hardy, left, and Richard Deane watch. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File)

TORONTO (AP) — The leader of Quebec ’s separatist party said Tuesday he would delay any referendum on independence from Canada until Donald Trump is no longer U.S. president.

Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon, whose party is out of power but could win Quebec’s next election that must be held by Oct. 5, said a PQ government would still hold a referendum during its first term — but not before Jan. 20, 2029, when Trump’s term ends.

He said a question as consequential as Quebec’s future requires a clear and calm debate.

“It must not be hijacked by the upheavals of American politics, nor by the outbursts of an unpredictable president, nor by fear campaigns,” St-Pierre Plamondon said.

“This unpredictability of the American administration will harm our process as well as the quality of the debate on our future as a nation."

Trump’s tariffs and repeated talk of making Canada the 51st U.S. state have complicated the separatist case in Quebec, fueling Canadian nationalism and prompting some French-speaking Quebecers to see greater security in remaining part of Canada.

Separatist sentiment has also surfaced in Alberta, where voters will decide Oct. 19 whether the province should take steps toward holding a binding referendum on leaving Canada.

Separatist referendums would face an uphill battle in both Quebec and Alberta, with Trump’s tariffs and 51st-state rhetoric strengthening the case for remaining in Canada

“Triggering it while Trump remains in the White House would have been particularly risky,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.

“Support for independence in Quebec remains at around 30%, and the fact that the PQ is ahead in the polls is not a sign that support for independence is increasing.”

Quebec voters have twice rejected sovereignty, most recently by a razor-thin margin in a 1995 referendum.

Quebec, which is about 80% French-speaking, already has significant autonomy. The province of 9.1 million collects its own income tax, has immigration policies favoring French speakers and has laws giving French priority over English.

The Parti Québécois was founded in the 1960s under René Lévesque and has long sought to make Quebec an independent country.

The Parti Québécois has governed Quebec several times without holding a referendum, including during its most recent stint in power from 2012 to 2014.

Quebec’s identity has been contentious since the 1760s, when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France.

FILE - Parti Quebecois Leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon listens to a question during a University of Calgary School of Public Policy event in Calgary, Thursday, Sept. 11, 2025. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press via AP, File)