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Airbnb removes listing advertised as 'slave cabin'

Airbnb-New Searches
Posted at 4:07 PM, Aug 02, 2022
and last updated 2022-08-02 16:07:57-04

Airbnb removed a Mississippi listing that was reportedly billed as a "slave cabin."

It drew attention after TikTok user "Lawyer Wynton" criticized the listing.

"The history of slavery in this country is constantly being denied, and now it's being mocked by being turned into a luxurious vacation spot," Wynton Yates said.

In a statement to NBC News, Airbnb apologized for not flagging the listing sooner.

“Properties that formerly housed the enslaved have no place on Airbnb,” the company 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.”

The host, who said he recently purchased the property, also apologized in a statement to NBC News. Brad Hauser, however, claimed the "slave cabin" wasn't actually old enough to house slaves.

“I apologize for the decision to provide our guests a stay at 'the slave quarters' behind the 1857 antebellum home that is now a bed and breakfast," he said. "I also apologize for insulting African Americans whose ancestors were slaves."

Despite the apology, Wynton was still upset that slavery was being used to promote the property.

"If this was actually not a slave cabin, that does not make it better in any way because it is the further romanticizing of slavery. That makes this even more horrendous that you think slavery is a selling point," he told NBC News.

Hauser told the network he plans to provide a more accurate representation to people who visit the property in the future.