Airbnb removes old ‘slave cabin’ listing and apologizes after TikTok backlash – WPXI

By Judy J. Beasley Last updated Dec 6, 2022

GREENVILLE, Mississippi — A viral TikTok video slamming a Mississippi property described as a former “slave shack” in its Airbnb descriptions prompted the real estate rental giant to apologize and remove all listings where slaves once lived in the USA.

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“Properties that once housed slaves have no place on Airbnb,” Airbnb said in a prepared statement provided to BNC News. “We apologize for any trauma or grief created by the presence of this listing, and others like it, and that we did not act sooner to resolve this issue.”

The property in question is the Panther Burn Cottage at the Belmont Plantation in Greenville, Mississippi.

According The Washington Post, Wynton Yates, an entertainment and civil rights attorney in New Orleans, slammed the listing in a now-viral post on TikTok on Friday, saying, “How is that acceptable in someone’s mind? one to praise this? A place where human beings were kept as slaves, renting it out as a bed and breakfast? »

“The history of slavery in this country is constantly denied, and now it is being mocked by turning it into a luxury resort. It’s not OK at all,” added Yates, who is black.

He also shared screenshots of the listing which referred to the Panther Burn Cabin as “an 1830s slave cabin from the existing Panther Burn Plantation south of Belmont. It was also used as a sharecroppers cabin. tenants and as a medical office for local farmers and their families to visit the plantation doctor,” NBC News reportednoting that the listing had 68 reviews and a rating of 4.97 when the screenshot was saved.

An Airbnb listing was just taken down because its description said it was an 1830s slave cabin.

This prompted Airbnb to now work with experts to create policies for properties associated with slavery.

How was this allowed for so long? pic.twitter.com/qOTknBUa5o

— dara faye (@darafaye) August 2, 2022

By comparison, Yates’ video had garnered more than 443,000 likes and more than 16,500 comments on Tuesday, the network reported.

Brad Hauser, who took over ownership of the Greenville property in July, said in a statement to the Washington Post that even though the building served as a doctor’s office rather than accommodation for slaves, it was “the previous owner’s decision to market the building as the place where slaves once slept.”

Hauser, who is white, told the newspaper he “strongly opposes” the previous owner’s decision and pledged to provide guests with a “historically accurate depiction” of life at the Belmont Plantation.

“I’m not interested in making money from slavery,” Hauser, 52, said.