A Black chef and his friends encountered a racist Airbnb host in New York City who asked which 'monkey' would be sleeping on the couch after the group asserted that her listing said it accommodated five people. Meshach Cisero - owner and executive chef of The Cage Bird in Washington D.C. - took to his social media to share the unsettling experience of being kicked out by the host at 2am on Saturday morning. The listing was for an apartment in the Upper East Side.
'We arrived to our @Airbnb, and we were harassed several times before being thrown out at 2 am,' Cicero said on Instagram.Her reasonings were because she felt unsafe, we were going to steal and destroy her property, and then told us to “Get the f**k out of her house immediately!” We cooperated and began to pack our things to leave.'
Cisero and his four friends complied and started gathering their things so that they could leave. But he asserts that as they were packing, the host bust into the apartment with a camera.
They asked her to respect their privacy - as one of them had just exited the shower - but the woman continued her tirade and called them 'criminals' adding that she didn't feel 'safe.'
Cisero added: '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.'The chef concluded the post stating that the group were able to find a hotel and had somewhere to sleep for the night.
Cisero included videos of him explaining what had happened but also of the host - identified only as Kate - calling the group 'monkeys.'
The clip shows Kate arguing with Cisero about how many the space can accommodate, with the host asserting that it says four.
'It says four and a couch, so that's five. You have that on your Airbnb description' the chef declares.
Kate retorts, 'which monkey is going to stay on the couch?'The clip concludes with the shocked guests repeating the wild question they were just asked.
The chef - whose twin was among the group that was asked to leave - included shots of the listing. It does say that the listing has two beds but also states that in addition to Cisero, four other guest were also going to be in attendance.Cisero's post on Twitter quickly went viral and Airbnb responded on the thread to share that they were 'sorry' about the incident. They asked the chef to send them a DM about the incident.
Airbnb released a statement to the DailyMail.com condemning the behavior and adding that the host would be removed from the platform.
'The language used in this video is unacceptable and has no place in the Airbnb community,' said spokesman Ben Breit.
'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.' Cisero would later post a video thanking everyone for sharing the video and stressing the importance of filming the event.
'I am glad that we can shed light on this and hold these people accountable, we can hold our host (Kate) accountable and we can hold Airbnb accountable for these services that they offer us but are not living up to our expectations' he said in the video.
I am also placing myself in the shoes of what could potentially be someone's little sister or brother, or someone who doesn't have the means to figure out their situation right away and get out of it. Like we have.
'We need to reevaluate Aibnb's host policy and how they might not be necessarily in the best interest of a guest because God forbid this was someone else.'
Airbnb's Open Door Policy works to find guests alternative accommodations in the event of discrimination.
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