Rihanna posted an Instagram Story today to denounce Snapchat after the platform showed an offensive ad featuring the artist to users. The ad was for a smartphone game called Would You Rather that appeared inside Snapchat on Monday asking users if they would rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown.
Many users caught the thinly veiled reference to the infamous 2009 incident when Chris Brown violently assaulted his then-girlfriend Rihanna. Brown choked, bit, and punched Rihanna and threatened to kill her, landing her in the hospital.
Many on social media have called out Snapchat for making an advertisement out of a terrible incident. Chelsea Clinton said it’s “awful that any company would approve this.”
Snapchat apologized and pulled the ad on Tuesday, saying in a statement to the BBC, “The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines.” Rihanna declined to accept the platform’s apology for mistakenly placing the ad after a vetting process, saying, “I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb!”
We’ve reached out to Snapchat for a full explanation of what happened.
Rihanna makes it clear in her statement that she’s more concerned about other domestic violence victims being made fun of by the ad than by her own personal feelings being hurt. Her full statement reads: