BadGalRiRi has spoken! Rihanna penned a scathing message after Snapchat posted an advertisement that made light of domestic violence using images of her and ex Chris Brown.
“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!” the 30-year-old singer wrote on her Instagram Story on Thursday, March 15. “I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb!”
She continued, “You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV [domestic violence] 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.”
As previously reported, the controversial ad asked users whether they’d rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown.” Social media users were up in arms about the message, prompting Snapchat to take it down.
“The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines,” a spokesperson for the app said in a statement to Us Weekly on Wednesday, March 14. “We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened.”
Brown’s lawyer Mark Geragos also released a statement about the ad. “They should change their name from Snapchat to Tone Deaf,” he told Us exclusively on Thursday, March 15.
Brown, 28, assaulted the “Work” singer, who was his girlfriend at the time, in his car the night before the 2009 Grammys. He pleaded guilty to felony assault and served nearly five years of probation. The pair briefly rekindled their romance in late 2012 but split again in mid-2013.
