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Airbnb Responds To Racist Host Who Used The Word ‘Monkey’ To Describe Black Guests

A viral video captured an Asian woman hurling slurs.

Airbnb is responding to viral video involving one of its hosts and guests staying at her home in New York City.

According to Newsone, a representative for the online platform, the woman in the video has been removed from their database. The action comes after the video showed an unidentified Asian woman using the word “monkey” to describe a Black men whom she believed exceeded capacity at her Airbnb.

“The language used in this video is unacceptable and has no place in the Airbnb community,” a statement said from the company reads. “We have a strict nondiscrimination policy, which we are enforcing to remove the host from our platform. We are supporting Mr. Cisero and his friends in getting them a new place to stay through our Open Doors policy. We’re thankful to them for bringing this to our attention so we could take action.

“[I]f a Guest anywhere in the world feels like they have been discriminated against in violation of our policy – in trying to book a listing, having a booking canceled, or in any other interaction with a host – we will find that Guest a similar place to stay if one is available on Airbnb, or if not, we will find them an alternative accommodation elsewhere,” the statement continued.

On Saturday (June 1), we brought you the story and video of the disturbing incident. The video was posted by Meshach Cisero and currently has over 1 million views on Twitter.

Airbnb had hoped to combat discrimination from hosts. In 2017, the company partnered with the NAACP to promote economic opportunities for people of color. The initiative provided “targeted outreach to communities of color to help more people use their homes to earn extra income.” By increasing the number of travelers to communities of color, the partnership hoped to “spread the economic benefits of tourism.” Airbnb also announced it would share 20 percent of its earnings from the partnership with the famed civil rights organization.

Sounds like there is still more work to do.

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