Veteran adult star and Hall of Famer Sara Jay has reported that popular international online lodging app Airbnb has abruptly and permanently terminated her account, giving her no warning or notification of any policy violations—solely because Jay is an adult actress. The termination by Airbnb was reported by the Daily Beast's Aurora Snow, herself a former adult star, here.
Airbnb's policy states, "To ensure that hosts and guests can use our platform without encountering prejudice or discrimination. ... we do believe that the Airbnb community can promote empathy and understanding across all cultures. We are all committed to doing everything we can to help eliminate all forms of unlawful bias, discrimination, and intolerance from our platform."
"I went to use the app one day to book a place to stay and my account wasn't working," Sara Jay stated. "When I contacted Airbnb customer support, I got a dismissive response that my account had been closed. They wouldn't give me a reason. I was stunned."
According to the Snow article, "They kept asking me for identification," Jay stated. "I sent in four different copies of my ID, then they wanted a clearer picture. It was ridiculous how many times they wanted me to verify my identity and name. Once I sent in all these verification pictures, they locked me out of my account and told me my profile was shut down."
Sara's business manager followed up by email and certified mail on March 30, 2018, stating that "Airbnb is violating its supposedly inclusive policies by discriminating against a female solely because of her gender and occupation... So much for empathy and understanding. An award winning female Hall of Fame actress being blacklisted." Airbnb finally responded on April 30: "For the safety and security of our community, we restrict access to the platform when users have advertised sexual services in exchange for compensation. This policy is gender neutral, and we have applied it to men, women and non-binary individuals. In this case, advertisements featuring Ms. Jay run afoul of this policy (including here and here). As a result, Ms. Jay is no longer able to use the Airbnb platform."
In response, Sara Jay's business manager responded on that same day, "The first website is Miss Jay's official site which is just an official site. No sexual services are advertised at all."
Indeed; Jay's VNA site simply states, "Join today and get live shows for free with your membership! Watch me live with all my hot and sexy friends! Enjoy cam to cam so I can see you having fun too, or just sit back and enjoy the show—it’s all up to you! You also get live shows daily for free with your membership. 60+ live girls to meet and interact with. So what are you waiting for? Grab a pass and meet me and them inside!"
"The second website is not owned, controlled or affiliated with Sara Jay," Jay's manager continued. "Unfortunately there are third parties in the world who attempt to profit from Sara Jay's name by setting up sites. It is called click baiting. A quick name check [shows] it was set up in Panama. Miss Jay has done NOTHING wrong in the use of any of AirBnB's facilities. You are discriminating purely because of her gender and profession."
(The Panama-based site lists 20 pages of "pornstar escorts," many of whom are no longer acting in adult features—some for at least a decade. It is likely that most are unaware that their photos and biographies are currently on the site.)
To date Airbnb has not responded to Jay's manager's entreats.
Sara Jay tweeted @AirBnb and @AirBnbHelp on April 30, but got no response except from other adult stars. @SexyKarenFisher tweeted that the same type of thing had happened to her.
Airbnb has not responded to the social media posts.
"It's incredibly wrong for such a large company to ban adult actresses who are doing nothing illegal or against their policies," declared Jay. "Imagine if Delta refused to sell me an airline ticket or Starbucks told me I couldn't buy a cup of coffee because I shoot adult? In this day and age, we shouldn't be restricting rights of women who are making a living in this country. Airbnb may not agree with everything women do for a living or what I do with my body but that should not be their call. What next... refuse to rent to women who make a living showing off their bodies on Instagram or Playboy models?"
Sara Jay continues to be one of the best known figures in adult, having just been inducted into the AVN Hall of Fame in January 2017. On social media, Sara boasts over 847,000 followers on twitter and 1.5 million followers on Instagram. Her #SaraJayTV Channel on YouTube just passed a whopping 175,000 subscriptions with more than 35,000,000 views. She is part of the popular VNA Girls Network, and Askmen.com recently declared she is the 16th most googled star worldwide.
Sara Jay can be reached for comment at [email protected].
Sara Jay's business manager can be reached at [email protected].
