Jordan Karlesson
It’s been a minute since Airbnb got into hot water. But the vacation rental company’s latest controversy might be its most egregious yet.
Videos by Rare
On Monday, Airbnb removed listings for lodgings in Mississippi where slaves used to live, CNN reports. One of the listings actually advertised “an 1830s slave cabin.”
Airbnb reportedly yanked the controversial listings after a TikTok user posted a clip calling out the listing. The video went viral, prompting widespread outrage on the social media platform, according to NBC News.
The main property at issue is the Panther Burn Cottage at the Belmont Plantation in Greenville, Mississippi, per NBC News.
Airbnb Faces Backlash Amid Viral Video
On Friday, a black lawyer from New Orleans reportedly posted the TikTok that sparked the outrage.
“How is this okay in somebody’s mind to rent this out?” Wynton Yates said in the video. “A place where human beings were kept as slaves, rent this out as a bed and breakfast?”
Yates’ video includes screenshots showing a small cabin where slaves apparently used to stay next to a massive house for the owners.
According to NBC, “[The Panther Burn Cabin is] an 1830s slave cabin from the extant Panther Burn Plantation to the south of Belmont. It has also been used as a tenant sharecroppers cabin and a medical office for local farmers and their families to visit the plantation doctor.”
Airbnb’s Twitter account hasn’t made any mention of the controversy as of press time. The only tweet published Tuesday boasted about the company’s profits.
“Q2 2022 earnings results are in: our biggest quarter ever with >103M nights and experiences booked. $ABNB,” the tweet said.
While Airbnb’s website didn’t appear to acknowledge the controversy either, NBC reported that it obtained a statement from the property-rental company.
“Properties that formerly housed the enslaved have no place on Airbnb,” the statement said. ”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 address this issue.”
CNN reported that the owner of the Panther Burn Cottage apologized as well. According to the owner, someone else who previously owned the cottage created the listing.
