‘You made me famous Monkey’: Miami Beach condo owner taunts Black guest after being kicked off Airbnb and Booking.com
Despite being kicked off both Airbnb and Booking.com, a Miami property owner is doubling down on her decision to call a Black woman a "monkey" and other racial epithets.
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According to The Daily Mail, Monifah Brown, an event planner from London, was planning to rent out Giulia Ozyesilpinar’s Miami condo for three months starting this September, when things unexpectedly took a turn for the worse.
Ozyesilpinar accused the 24-year-old of using a stolen credit card to secure the booking. Despite Brown’s denials of that being the case, she then alleges she received a racist tirade via WhatsApp.
Although their original transaction took place on Booking.com, the Florida woman reportedly used WhatsApp to lash out at the young mother and her child. On one occasion she reportedly sent Brown picture of a gorilla carrying its baby with the message: “Aw, you and your daughter.”
In other messages sent via the popular messaging app, Ozyesilpinar allegedly called Brown, a “n****r” and a “monkey” while also asking if she was a “prostitute.”
“It’s just disgusting,” Brown told The Daily Mail. “She’s said she’s allowed to be racist because of free speech – I can’t believe people have that mentality in this day and age […] I came to her to provide her with business, nothing else.”
READ MORE: New York City Airbnb host calls Black men ‘monkeys’ and ‘criminals’
“This mentality 100 per cent stems from Donald Trump,” Brown continued. “He has made it possible for people to say racist things and claim it is freedom of speech.”
When Ozyesilpinar was kicked off both Airbnb and Booking.com for her behavior, she sent another message to Brown via WhatsApp stating, “Thank you, you’ve made me famous, monkey.”
“Being racist is not illegal,” Ozyesilpinar said when asked about the ‘monkey’ remarks to the Miami New Times. “We live in a free world. We have freedom of speech. If I want to call somebody a monkey, I should be able to say that.”
Ozyesilpinar claims that Brown insulted her on Whats App first, although screenshots provided to the Miami New Times do not reflect that. Earlier this week, Booking.com and Airbnb removed Ozyesilpinar’s condo as a potential listing from its platforms.
Thanks for making us aware of this situation. We do not tolerate discriminatory behaviour of any kind on https://t.co/0WK3GNLnVf and have closed this property on our site. A member of our customer service team will be in touch with you directly to support you further. https://t.co/Z89AAoEgD7
— Booking.com (@bookingcom) June 24, 2019
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