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Mississippi 'slave cabin' removed from Airbnb after viral TikTok post

A viral TikTok post called out the Mississippi Airbnb listing that was being advertised as an "1830s slave cabin."
Credit: AP
FILE - The Airbnb app icon is seen on an iPad screen, Saturday, May 8, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, File)

WASHINGTON — Airbnb has issued an apology and removed a Mississippi listing that was described as an "1830s slave cabin," after a TikTok video admonishing the property went viral.

The video, posted by New Orleans lawyer Wynton Yates, has more than 2 million views. Yates blasted the "Panther Burn Cottage" property, which according to a screenshot of the now-deleted listing was advertised as a bed and breakfast in Greenville, Mississippi. 

In the Airbnb description, shared by Yates in his video, the property was described as "an 1830s slave cabin from the extant Panther Burn Plantation to the south of Belmont." 

After the TikTok video went viral, Airbnb took action. 

"Properties that formerly housed the enslaved have no place on Airbnb. 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," Airbnb shared in a statement.

On top of removing the listing, the company said it's working on removing other listings known to have been former slave quarters in the United States. Additionally, the company shared it will develop new policies that better address properties associated with slavery. 

The listing, which has since been removed had 4.97 stars and was also described as being a "tenant sharecroppers cabin," according to screenshots from the video. 

"The history of slavery in this country is constantly denied, now its being mocked by being turned into a luxurious vacation spot," Yates said in the TikTok.

@lawyerwynton

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

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Brad Hauser, the current owner of the listing, took over the property just last month. Hauser said to USA TODAY that the property was not a former "slave cabin," but a doctor's office instead. 

Hauser said the previous owner had made the decision to market the property as former slave quarters, something he said he "strongly opposed," according to USA TODAY and a follow-up video posted by Yates

The cabin is located in the Belmont Plantation, which is advertised as the "last antebellum mansion along the river in the Mississippi Delta."

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