Tan France Calls Out TSA for Racial Profiling

Anyone who watches Queer Eye on Netflix knows Tan France as the lovable style guru who just wants to make the French tuck happen. But according to the Transportation Security Administration, he’s a risk.

France has become quite the jetsetter since joining the Fab Five. And on Wednesday, he called out the TSA after they put him through extra security measures three times in one week. According to France, they told him he’s “on a list.”

In addition to tagging the TSA in a tweet about the ordeal (which they responded to with a generic apology and link to file an inquiry), he took to his Instagram story to explain what happened.

“Apparently, my name is on a list of concern,” he said in his Instagram story. “And that was told to me by a TSA PreCheck person.”

Although he has TSA PreCheck, it took him over two hours to get through security, which consisted of an extensive search of his bags and a pat down. Then, he had trouble getting through his gate to board the plane because of all the TSA stamps on his boarding pass.

“So, the reason why I wanted to post this is so I can tag TSA,” he said in the final video of the story. “Hopefully, they’ll see this at some point and figure out why they’re treating me like this. Because I know the answer. I know why I’m being profiled.”

France is Pakistani and Muslim, but he was born in the UK. He’s been vocal about his Pakistani family and living as a gay muslim on Queer Eye.

The TSA’s official statement on racial profiling reads:

“All airline passengers, regardless of race, gender, or religion, are thoroughly screened at airport screening checkpoints. TSA cannot comment on the security designation for specific individuals, and there are a number of reasons a passenger can be selected for additional screening, including by random designation.”

Cases of racial profiling are nothing new for travelers (made worse since Trump's attempted travel ban). According to the ACLU, the TSA’s “behavior detection” techniques are not grounded in science and often result in religious and racial profiling. Flying has become too much of a pain to still be dealing with such antiquated “security measures.”