After Snapchat pulled a wildly inappropriate advertisement featuring Chris Brown and Rihanna, Rihanna admonished the platform on Instagram.
"I'm just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess! I'd love to call it ignorance, but it ain't that dumb! [Snapchat] spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to [domestic violence] victims and made a joke of it!" Rihanna wrote. She shared the statement on her Instagram story. "This isn't about my personal feelings," she explained, "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 know! Shame on you." (See the full statement, below.)
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The advertisement was for a new Snapchat feature called "Would You Rather?" For the ad, the question presented was, "Would you rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown?" This is an obvious reference to the 2009 incident in which Brown assaulted Rihanna, who was his girlfriend at the time. Snapchat quickly removed the ad and released a statement Wednesday claiming the ad was "approved in error."
“We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened," a spokesperson for the company said in a statement provided to Us Weekly.
Though no one has taken legal action yet, Brown's lawyer released a statement to Us.
"[Snapchat] should change their name from Snapchat to Tone Deaf," the statement reads.
"[Snapchat] should change their name from Snapchat to Tone Deaf," the statement reads.
Following her initial statement, Rihanna alleged on Instagram that Snapchat the company doesn't look out for the best interests of celebrities, who happen to be an important component of the platform.
"Snap does not seem to understand how much celebrities can play an important role in the influence of the application?" she wrote. Her critique of the platform echoes that of Kylie Jenner, who last month managed to stymie the company's stock value with a single tweet.
Refinery29 has reached out to a spokesperson for Rihanna for additional comment.
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