Airbnb Host Makes Racist Comments Towards Guests, ‘Which Monkey Is Going To Stay On The Couch?’

Airbnb has removed a host from its website after a viral video exposed the woman using the word ‘monkey’ to address a group of black guests.

On Saturday, vacation plans for Meshach Cisero and four of his friends went left, when they were kicked out of an Airbnb in Manhattan’s Upper East Side by a seemingly uninviting host.

According to Cisero, who took to social media to share a video of his account of the situation, things escalated over a conversation about how many guests could be accommodated on the property.

Apparently, the host was “uncomfortable” with allowing more than four guests on the property, which was listed as a two bedroom apartment. When Cisero, who had booked the trip asked about including the couch in the sleeping arrangements, the woman, who has since been identified as ‘Kate,’ responded with racist remarks.

“Which monkey is going to sleep on the couch,” she can be heard asking on the now viral video.

Cisero and his friends claim they were eventually kicked out of the NYC Airbnb at two in the morning after the woman expressed that she “felt threatened.”

Airbnb has since released an official statement in response to the video, condemning the behavior of the host and promoting their nondiscrimination policy.

“The language used in this video is unacceptable and has no place in the Airbnb community,” the statement said.

“We have a strict nondiscrimination policy, which we are enforcing to remove the host from our platform. We are supporting Mr. Cisero and his friends in getting them a new place to stay through our Open Doors policy. We’re thankful to them for bringing this to our attention so we could take action.”

Through the Open Doors policy, Airbnb has set out to accommodate and relocate guests who have reported discrimination from hosts. The company has also issued an apology to Cisero.

https://twitter.com/deelew06/status/1134808117940764677?s=21

Retonjah Burdette

Retonjah Burdette is a publicist and published content curator from Atlanta, Georgia. After receiving her Bachelor’s in Public Relations from Georgia Southern University in 2017, Burdette then went on to get field experience with one of the top entertainment PR firms in Atlanta. Since the start of her career, Burdette has worked with a number of actors, authors, entrepreneurs and independent artists. She has secured placements on media outlets such as TV One’s Sister Circle, Good Day Atlanta on FOX, V-103, CBS 46, Kontrol Magazine, KISS 104.1 and Rolling Out to name a few. In addition to her growth in PR, she is currently a writer for Baller Alert, a top platform for news and entertainment. In hopes of bringing the visions of others to life, she launched Girl Avant-Garde in 2019, a creative agency specializing in innovative content, branding and PR in entertainment. Her overall goal is to have autonomy over her creative thought process and to teach branding to new entrepreneurs and others pursuing a career in the public eye.

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