Airbnb Issues Apology Over Offensive Mississippi “Slave Cabin” Listing, Removes Listing

Thanks to a TikTok video, a “slave cabin” bed and breakfast Airbnb listing has been removed.

The slave cabin, known as Panther Burn Cottage, was proudly advertised as an “1830s slave cabin” that housed enslaved people at a plantation in Greenville, Miss.  

After facing widespread backlash in the days since the now-viral TikTok video was posted, the company issued an apology and noted Monday that it is “removing listings that are known to include former slave quarters in the United States.”

@lawyerwynton

#airbnb this is not ok. #history #civilrights #americanhistory

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Wynton Yates, an entertainment and civil rights attorney in New Orleans, was the TikTok’er behind the now-viral posting about the “luxury” listing.

“The history of slavery in this country is constantly denied,” Yates said in the Friday video, “and now it’s being mocked by being turned into a luxurious vacation spot.” Yates, who is Black, added, “This is not okay in the least bit.”

“Properties that formerly housed the enslaved have no place on Airbnb,” Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit said in a statement. “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.”

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 had been used as a doctor’s office and not a quarter for enslaved people, it was “the previous owner’s decision to market the building as the place where slaves once slept.”

Hauser, who is White, claims he “strongly opposed” the previous owner’s description and promised to give guests a “historically accurate portrayal” of life at the Belmont Plantation.

“I am not interested in making money off slavery,” said Hauser, 52, who also apologized for the listing “insulting African Americans whose ancestors were slaves.”

After Yates’s TikTok video on the “slave cabin” garnered more than 2.6 million views, Airbnb added that it was not only removing all listings promoted as former quarters for enslaved people but it would also work “with experts to develop new policies that address other properties associated with slavery.”