Racist Airbnb Host Calls Black Guests ‘Monkeys’ And Kicks Them Out
This morning, a video surfaced on Twitter of an AirBnB host in NYC, asking a group of Black men, “Which monkey is going to stay on the couch?”
Posted by Meshach Cisero, the cell phone video shows a woman named Kate, who appears to be the host of the property, rudely speaking to her guests, a group of Black men.
Cisero is seated and can be heard calmly speaking with Kate as they disagree about the conditions for their stay. Not wanting to hear any reasoning, Kate harshly replied, “Which monkey is going to stay on the couch?”
Cisero and his guests were shocked by the racist slur.
Cisero then took to his Instagram to post a video and stating that Kate put them out of the home at 2:30 a.m.
“Me and my friends just encountered a racist AirBnB host,” he said on IG. “Our AirBnB host treated us very disrespectfully and complained unnecessarily about our noise. She racially profiled us, calling us criminals and used racial slurs such as monkey’s to describe us."
Cisero also explained that Kate claimed she felt threatened by the men who she called “criminals.” Cisero appears to be a chef according to his Instagram and Twitter accounts.
After the unfair eviction, the group was able to get last-minute hotel arrangements.
Cisero and his friends have received a lot of support on social media.
AirBnB noticed the complaint and issued a response to Meshach’s Twitter thread. “Airbnb does not condone discrimination in any way. You can view our Anti-Discriminatory Policy here, http://abnb.do/6010EW8Ys . We'd like to follow up on this, could you please send us a DM providing additional information? Thank you.”
This is not the first time or only time AirBnB caught heat because of racial incidents since it’s launch in 2008. In April of 2018, police confronted Donisha Prendergast, the granddaughter of Bob Marley, and her two friends while leaving an AirBnB home in California.
These are just a couple of the platform’s numerous issues with discrimination and racist behavior, often on the part of the hosts.
We hope that AirBnB takes the necessary measures to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
