‘Ideal for black people’… but not good for business

A classified ad for a terraced Gzira house, which described substandard furniture as ‘ideal for black people’, spread like wildfire on Internet social networks yesterday… until the online real estate agency was finally alerted to its contents, and removed it from its website at six this morning.

Still visible on Facebook and similar sites, the ad describes a “terraced house with large garden, separate kitchen, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, one front balcony; furniture not very good (ideal for black people)”.

There is also a small picture in which a plastic table and two dilapidated chairs can be seen in the corner of a yard.

Maurizio Cavallaro, of doorsrealestate.com, told MaltaToday that he was flabbergasted when he found out about it this morning.

“We removed the post immediately upon being alerted,” Cavallaro said. “I was shocked when I saw it. We apologise for any offence caused.”

Cavallaro explained that realestates.com did not create the ad in question, which had been posted by third parties. “We carry over 20,000 ads on our website, and unfortunately it is impossible to keep a close eye on them all. For me it’s very sad that people have this kind of attitude.”

Cavallaro added that apart from being reprehensible in itself, the wording of the ad also distorted the image of his company.

“We are a small agency, we live by our reputation. We are not racist. Unfortunately this gives a very wrong impression of our company.”