TikToker goes viral exposing “slave cabins” on Airbnb

A TikTok user went viral after exposing a 1830s slave cabin listed on Airbnb as a luxurious stay.

Wynton Yates, a civil rights attorney who posts under the handle ‘LawyerWinton,’ slammed the listing, which has since been removed.

In the viral video, he shared screenshots of the cabin’s 1830s structure, which was moved from a nearby plantation to the one it currently sits on. On Airbnb, it was advertised as a “meticulously restored” bed-and-breakfast.

“The history of slavery in this country is constantly denied and now it’s being mocked by being turned into a luxurious vacation spot,” Yates said in the clip.

The listing was advertised as “The Panther Burn Cottage at Belmont Plantation” in Greenville, Mississippi. The description said it was formerly a slave cabin in the 1830s, then a sharecropper cabin and medical office for local farmers.

In the clip, which has been viewed over 2.6 million views, Yates asks, “How is this okay, in somebody’s mind, to rent out this place? A place where human beings were kept as slaves.”

“The history of slavery in this country is constantly denied and now it’s being mocked by being turned into a luxurious vacation spot,” he added.

Airbnb responds to Wynton Yate’s viral video

Following major backlash, the vacation rental company removed the listing, and recently issued a public apology.

“Properties that formerly housed the enslaved have no place on Airbnb,” Airbnb spokesman Ben Breit said in a statement.

“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 also said it’s working with experts on developing new policies for dealing with properties tied to slavery.