• Home
  • News
  • Fortune 500
  • Tech
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Lifestyle
  • Rankings
  • Multimedia
Lifestyle

Airbnb apologizes for ‘slave cabin’ listing after being called out on TikTok video

By
Chloe Taylor
Chloe Taylor
Down Arrow Button Icon
By
Chloe Taylor
Chloe Taylor
Down Arrow Button Icon
August 3, 2022, 7:16 AM ET
Airbnb logo on a smartphone screen
In a statement emailed to Fortune on Wednesday, Airbnb said that properties that formerly housed enslaved people had “no place” on its platform.Budrul Chukrut—SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Airbnb has apologized and pulled a listing off its site that offered travelers a stay in the former slaves’ quarters of a Mississippi plantation.

In a series of TikTok videos posted over the past week, lawyer Wynton Yates called the rental platform out for accommodating a listing advertising “an 1830s slave cabin.”

According to screenshots of the now-deleted listing used in Yates’s videos, the property is on the site of Belmont Plantation in Greenville, Miss.

Its host was named as one of Airbnb’s so-called superhosts.  

The plantation’s main building is used as a bed and breakfast as well as a wedding venue, and the owners also offer tours of the site.

“This particular structure, the Panther Burn Cabin, is an 1830s slave cabin from the extant Panther Burn Plantation to the south of Belmont,” the Airbnb listing advertised.

“It has also been used as a tenant sharecroppers’ cabin and a medical office for local farmers and their families to visit the plantation doctor.”

Yates asked in his first video on the listing: “How is this ok in somebody’s mind to rent this out, a place where human beings were kept as slaves—rent this out as a bed and breakfast?”

@lawyerwynton

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

♬ Blade Runner 2049 – Synthwave Goose

Yates also criticized some of the reviews the listing had been given by people who had stayed there, which described the cabin as “elegant,” “cool,” and “delightful.”

“Maybe you’re thinking that maybe this will give people insight on how enslaved people had to live—not at all,” he said, before pointing out that the cabin’s features included a claw-foot tub, running water, and nice lighting fixtures.

Yates argued that the listing was making a mockery of the history of slavery in the U.S. by turning the cabin into “a luxurious vacation spot.”

In a statement emailed to Fortune on Wednesday, Airbnb said that properties that formerly housed enslaved people had “no place” on its platform.

“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 company said.

It added that it had removed the listing and was removing other U.S. listings that are known to include former slave quarters.

“We are working with experts to develop new policies that address other properties associated with slavery,” the company’s spokesperson added.

Brad Hauser, owner of Belmont Plantation and the host of the Airbnb listing, told CNNon Tuesday that he had owned the property for three weeks and apologized for keeping the listing on Airbnb after taking over.

“I also apologize for insulting African Americans whose ancestors were slaves,” he said.

Hauser said that when he bought the property, he was told the building was not old enough to have ever housed enslaved people, telling CNN he “strongly opposed the previous owner’s decision to market the building as the place where slaves once slept after toiling in the cotton fields in human bondage.”

Sign up for the Fortune Features email list so you don’t miss our biggest features, exclusive interviews, and investigations.

About the Author
By Chloe Taylor
LinkedIn iconTwitter icon
See full bioRight Arrow Button Icon

Latest in Lifestyle

Jensen Huang
SuccessBillionaires
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang admits he works 7 days a week, including holidays, in a constant ‘state of anxiety’ out of fear of going bankrupt
By Jessica CoacciDecember 4, 2025
2 minutes ago
Zaslav
Arts & EntertainmentMedia
Paramount calls Warner Bros. sale ‘tainted’ in letter to CEO
By Christopher Palmeri and BloombergDecember 4, 2025
21 minutes ago
Healthmeal delivery
The 6 Best Meal Delivery Services for Singles in 2025
By Christina SnyderDecember 4, 2025
1 hour ago
Healthmeal delivery
The 6 Best Meal Delivery Services for Families (2025)
By Christina SnyderDecember 4, 2025
1 hour ago
Cropper
Arts & EntertainmentObituary
Steve Cropper, legendary guitarist on Memphis classics from ‘Green Onions’ to ‘In the Midnight Hour,’ dies at 84
By Adrian Sainz and The Associated PressDecember 4, 2025
2 hours ago
christmas
Arts & EntertainmentSpotify
From Spotify Wrapped to YouTube Recap to Amazon Delivered, the holidays are becoming a time of year for our tech to tell us who we are
By The Associated PressDecember 4, 2025
2 hours ago

Most Popular

placeholder alt text
North America
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos commit $102.5 million to organizations combating homelessness across the U.S.: ‘This is just the beginning’
By Sydney LakeDecember 2, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Two months into the new fiscal year and the U.S. government is already spending more than $10 billion a week servicing national debt
By Eleanor PringleDecember 4, 2025
5 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Ford workers told their CEO 'none of the young people want to work here.' So Jim Farley took a page out of the founder's playbook
By Sasha RogelbergNovember 28, 2025
6 days ago
placeholder alt text
North America
Anonymous $50 million donation helps cover the next 50 years of tuition for medical lab science students at University of Washington
By The Associated PressDecember 2, 2025
2 days ago
placeholder alt text
Economy
Scott Bessent calls the Giving Pledge well-intentioned but ‘very amorphous,’ growing from ‘a panic among the billionaire class’
By Nick LichtenbergDecember 3, 2025
23 hours ago
placeholder alt text
Innovation
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says we’re just a decade away from a new normal of extraterrestrial data centers
By Sasha RogelbergDecember 1, 2025
3 days ago
Rankings
  • 100 Best Companies
  • Fortune 500
  • Global 500
  • Fortune 500 Europe
  • Most Powerful Women
  • Future 50
  • World’s Most Admired Companies
  • See All Rankings
Sections
  • Finance
  • Leadership
  • Success
  • Tech
  • Asia
  • Europe
  • Environment
  • Fortune Crypto
  • Health
  • Retail
  • Lifestyle
  • Politics
  • Newsletters
  • Magazine
  • Features
  • Commentary
  • Mpw
  • CEO Initiative
  • Conferences
  • Personal Finance
  • Education
Customer Support
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Customer Service Portal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms Of Use
  • Single Issues For Purchase
  • International Print
Commercial Services
  • Advertising
  • Fortune Brand Studio
  • Fortune Analytics
  • Fortune Conferences
  • Business Development
About Us
  • About Us
  • Editorial Calendar
  • Press Center
  • Work At Fortune
  • Diversity And Inclusion
  • Terms And Conditions
  • Site Map

© 2025 Fortune Media IP Limited. All Rights Reserved. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy | CA Notice at Collection and Privacy Notice | Do Not Sell/Share My Personal Information
FORTUNE is a trademark of Fortune Media IP Limited, registered in the U.S. and other countries. FORTUNE may receive compensation for some links to products and services on this website. Offers may be subject to change without notice.