- Erica W. posted the video of the southern Airbnb last week
- Cotton bouquets, cotton branches and cotton wreaths were displayed
An Airbnb listing has apparently been removed after a guest revealed the “truly insane” decor inside.
Erica posted a video last week of the house she was staying in the south, showing decorations like cotton bouquets, cotton branches, and cotton wreaths hanging on the wall, with stuffed monkeys underneath.
She wrote in the video that it was “Southern Airbnb core.” The video has now been viewed more than 2.2 million times and has generated more than 5,000 comments, in which viewers expressed their annoyance at the racist decor.
“Not the intention of the Get Out sequel,” said one user.
An Airbnb guest shared some of the seemingly racist decorations of the home where she stayed
The decor is reminiscent of the slavery era, when millions of enslaved black people were forced to pick cotton on plantations in the South.
According to the National Parks ServiceIn 1850, about 1.8 million of the country’s 3.2 million enslaved people were engaged in growing and picking cotton.
Ten years later, slaves were producing more than 2 billion pounds of cotton annually.
In Virginia — where Airbnb was apparently located, based on a map depicted in it — 550,000 enslaved Black people made up a third of the state’s population in 1860. according to the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.
Most of the inhabitants of some eastern counties of Virginia were even held in slavery. Later the state joined the Confederate States of America during the Civil War.
Erica W., who is on TikTok as @tasteofmelanin, said Airbnb told her they had removed the listing
Around the same time, many Americans believed in the idea of polygenesis – the separate origins of the races, which they believed made white people superior, The Conversation reports.
In their 1854 book Types of Mankind, the leading scientists of the day, Josiah C. Nott and George R Gliddon, documented what they saw as objective racial hierarchies, with illustrations comparing black people to chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans.
The images of monkeys hanging from cotton branches could also be seen as racist, as black people have long been compared to monkeys.
The decorations consisted of stuffed monkeys hanging from cotton branches
The images evoke memories of the time of slavery, when slaves were forced to pick cotton
Many TikTok users couldn’t believe their eyes when they saw what was going on at Airbnb.
“THE MONKEYS ON THE COTTON ARE DEVILS,” one user commented on her video.
Some viewers urged Erica to report the listing to Airbnb.
“Report this to Airbnb IMMEDIATELY,” one person wrote, while another said she had to take photos — calling the decor “absolutely insane.”
Erica replied that she had reported the ad.
A third also said Erica was ‘too calm’.
Take pictures, send [them] “Go to Airbnb, report the property, post on social media and leave the place immediately.”
Erica later responded to the video: “Update: Airbnb has reached out and removed the listing.”
DailyMail.com has reached out to Airbnb for comment.