“Her reasonings were because she felt unsafe.”
Five Airbnb guests were kicked out of their lodging by a racist host who called them “monkeys” and “criminals.”
Restaurant owner Meshach Cisero, his brother, and their friends had rented the apartment for five people in New York’s Upper East Side.
However, once they arrived, Cisero said that they were verbally abused by their host, a woman named Kate.
Taking to social media, Cisero explained that Kate refused to let the group stay and asked which “monkey” was going to be sleeping on the couch.
“We arrived to our Airbnb, and we were harassed several times before being thrown out at 2am,” he said.
“Her reasonings were because she felt unsafe, we were going to steal and destroy her property, and then told us to ‘Get the fuck out of her house immediately!’ We cooperated and began to pack our things to leave.”
Cisero said that as they were packing their things, Kate appeared with her camera and called them “criminals.” He pointed out that if something similar had happened to somebody younger, they may not have had the funds to find a replacement hotel for the night.
“She became so angry, rude, and disrespectful that we had to call NYPD because we weren’t sure if she’d attack us while trying to leave,” he said.
Airbnb has since apologised to Cisero and his friends. They have also removed Kate as a host.
“The language is unacceptable and has no place in the Airbnb community,” they said on Twitter.
“We’ve removed the host from our platform and are supporting the guests with a new place to stay. We’re thankful to them for bringing this to our attention so we could take action.”
Cisero has said that he is glad his post brought attention to the issue. He has asked Airbnb to reevaluate their host policy.
