Rihanna has slammed Snapchat, for publishing an advert that asked users: “Would you rather... slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown?”
When Snapchat users spotted the advert - which was created by a third party publisher - earlier this week, the company soon removed it, issuing an apology and stating it “was reviewed and approved in error”. At the time, Rihanna herself did not respond to the controversy.
On Thursday (15 March) afternoon, though, the singer broke her silence on the matter, using Instagram Stories to make her feelings on Snapchat’s actions - and apology - crystal clear.
“Now SNAPCHAT, I know you already know you ain’t my fav app out there! But I’m just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess!” she wrote. “I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb!
“You spent money to animate something that would intentionally being shame to DV victims and made a joke of it!!!
“This isn’t about my personal feelings, cause I don’t have much of them… but all the women, children and men that have been victims of DV in the past and especially the ones who haven’t made it out yet… you let us down!
“Shame on you. Throw the whole app-oligy away.”
In response to Rihanna’s post, a Snapchat spokesperson told HuffPost UK:
“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service.
“We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process.
“We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”
The creators of the advert, ‘Would You Rather’, has also been blocked from their advertising platform.
It wasn’t just Rihanna fans who were unimpressed with the advert, which appeared to reference Chris Brown’s 2009 conviction for assaulting then-girlfriend Rihanna.
Chelsea Clinton was among those calling for its removal:
US activist Brittany Packnett also tweeted, writing: “I know that social media ads go through an approval process from the platform.
“This means @Snapchat approved an ad that makes light of domestic violence.
“The update ain’t the only thing that’s wack over there, friends.”
The controversy comes as Snapchat is currently dealing with the fallout from a huge drop in its value, that was sparked by a single tweet, when Kylie Jenner wrote: “Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me... ugh this is so sad”.
Less than 24 hours later, the stock price of Snap, Snapchat’s parent company, had fallen about 6 percent, closing at $17.51. That represented a $1.3 billion loss in value, according to CNN Money.