Airbnb Deletes Listing For "1830s Slave Cottage" After TikTok Lawyer's Viral Clip

Airbnb apologized recently for listing a "1830s slave cottage" on its platform. This cabin was used by enslaved persons. The company informed that it would delete all listings that claimed to have formerly hosted enslaved persons.

A spokesperson for Airbnb stated that "properties that once housed the enslaved" is not allowed on their platform. "We are sorry for any grief or trauma caused by this listing and others like them, and that it took us so long to resolve this problem."

After days of backlash online, the company revised its policies after an entertainment lawyer posted a TikTok clip on Friday calling the listing out. Wynton Yates (who has 41,000 followers on TikTok) said that it was okay for someone to rent out the property -- which is a place where slaves were kept -- and rent it out as a bed & breakfast. Yates' first video calling attention to the listing has been viewed more than 2.6 million times.

Yates' TikTok video shows the listing that was since deleted. It advertised the Greenville property as the Panther Burn Cabin. The listing boasted access to Netflix and HBO. The listing claimed that the property was former slave quarters and also claimed it had been used as a tenant sharecroppers cabin and medical office.Yates pointed out in his TikTok video that the photos of the listing revealed that the cabin was upgraded to include running water, a clawfoot bathtub and new light fixtures.

An Airbnb spokesperson commented that the company had removed the listing, and that it had changed its policies to prohibit these types of properties. The company also removed the Mississippi listing. It said it was "removing listings known to include former slavery quarters in the United States", and that it was working with experts to create new policies to address other properties related to slavery.