Gothamist
A non-profit newsroom, powered by WNYC.
Gothamist
Listen Live
News
Comedian Who Found "Freak Fest" Orgy In Apartment Believes He's Being Harassed Online By AirBNB
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 29, 2014
Modified Mar 29, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
Never miss a story
Email address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .
via AirBNB
By
Ben Yakas
Published Mar 29, 2014
Modified Mar 29, 2014
Share
FacebookTwitterRedditEmail
We rely on your support to make local news available to all
Make your contribution now and help Gothamist thrive in 2026. Donate today
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
A few weeks ago, comedian Ari Teman decided to rent out his luxury studio apartment in Chelsea for the weekend to "David," a "Verified" AirBNB member who said he needed to stay in the city for a wedding. Teman then discovered that "David" was actually hosting an "XXX Freak Fest" orgy in his home. In the weeks since, Teman has had a tentative truce with AirBNB, whom he blamed for the incident because they vouched for "David" as a customer. But now, he tells us he believes he is being harassed online by AirBNB: "It's not a random guy, very specifically it's the guy in charge of customer advocacy for AirBNB," he told us. "And instead of advocating for the customer he's harassing them, and what he's doing is just causing me emotional distress."
Since the incident on March 16th, Teman says AirBNB has been "responsive, and responded well, and then this happened." He says he's not legally allowed to talk about all the details, but Gawker initially reported that AirBNB wired him $23K (of which AirBNB is insured), sent someone to change his locks, and put him up in a hotel for a few days. But this week, he noticed that AirBNB "customer advocate team leader" Simon McGarth was responding to his tweets from Ireland. You can see a screenshot below of a tweet that has since been deleted.
In addition, Teman says he's received "a bunch of random, anonymous tweets from accounts that don't make any sense," which he seems to believe could also be AirBNB related. He says he hasn't had any contact with AirBNB since then: "I tweeted them and they haven't tweeted back, we've been very unsatisfied with their response on this matter and we're going to prepare legal action."
Teman believes this kind of behavior is par for the course for AirBNB, citing the case of EJ, who back in 2011 was "hit with various insinuations from company supporters—that she's a liar, that she's crazy, or worse."
We asked Teman how he would respond to people who perhaps weren't sympathetic to the latest twist in the story, who might shrug their shoulders over a few mean tweets.
I don’t know the legal definition versus the feeling definition, but having a company who just sent an orgy into your apartment, destroying your stuff, now having their staff attack you, is at best idiotic and at worst malicious. And it has to be intentional. You don’t accidentally follow a guy in New York from Ireland and disparage his appearance on a TV show in Australia. There’s no accident there. You don’t accidentally type “boring”, you don’t accidentally select the tweets. You wanna call it monitoring, you wanna call it watching, you wanna call it stalking, it’s creepy, this is just creepy behavior. You wanna watch me and see what I’m up to cause I’m getting press, and then just start disparaging me, this is bullying. This is creepy behavior.
As for the current state of his apartment: two companies have pitched in to help clean up the remaining mess from the orgy, including The Junkluggers (who removed the broken/soiled furniture) and MyClean (who will be providing the maid service to clean the apartment). "They came with a truck and carried the furniture out which was all discolored and one of the MyClean guys after said, 'You know I didn't wanna say this when your friend was here but your floor was sticky.'"
He said that he is still worried about being kicked out of the building, though not immediately: "Things with co-op boards and landlords don't move that fast and I can't find an apartment overnight." He acknowledges that he has tried to make the best of a bad situation by ultra-promoting the story; he's still "creeped out" being at his apartment, but he's also been a guest on dozens of radio and TV shows (including news programs in Australia and Israel).
And on top of that, "several movie and production companies" have reached out to him about his story. "I was hoping to put the nightmare part of this behind me," he reasoned, "but now I'm afraid I'm going to get a notice on my phone about an orchestrated attack against me from the AirBNB staff."
"I don't think I've slept for more than three hours straight a night," he added. "It's been both incredibly exciting and also incredibly taxing. I'm looking forward to a nap, I'm hoping soon to get a nap."
Tagged
airbnb
ari teman
harassment
manhattan
orgy
Porn
xxx freak fest
original
Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
Read more
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
MORE news
Man shot by ICE in NYC still has bullet lodged in neck, attorneys say
Oscar Belgal, a 28-year-old immigrant from the Dominican Republic, was in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Sunset Park on Monday.
By
Liam Quigley
Published Oct 12, 2026 at 11:37 a.m. ET
NY measles spread prompts 'disaster' emergency. It didn't have to be this way, health commissioner says.
The state health commissioner says the disease outbreak is wholly preventable.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
News
NY measles spread prompts 'disaster' emergency. It didn't have to be this way, health commissioner says.
The state health commissioner says the disease outbreak is wholly preventable.
By
Elizabeth Shwe
NYC wants to move deliveries onto the waterways. It's starting with a 55-year-old boat.
By
Liam Quigley
Inside the luxury Greenpoint high-rise powered by a rumbling generator for over a month
By
David Brand
Mayor Mamdani orders review of NYPD use of force policies
By
Michael Sol Warren
Never miss a story
Catch up on the most important headlines with a roundup of essential NYC stories, delivered to your inbox daily.
Sign upEmail address
By submitting your information, you're agreeing to receive communications from New York Public Radio in accordance with our Terms .