Rihanna has urged her fans to dump popular multimedia messaging app Snapchat for shaming victims of domestic abuse.
Snapchat boss Evan Spiegel and his partners came under fire over the weekend after an ad for a new Would You Rather? game, poking fun at the singer’s 2009 assault at the hands of then-boyfriend Chris Brown, appeared on the platform.
Users were asked if they would “rather slap Rihanna or punch Chris Brown”.
Company bosses quickly removed the ad and apologized, revealing it was published in error.
“The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines,” a representative told the BBC on Monday. “We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened.”
But that’s not enough for Rihanna – she wants to bring the company to its knees.
Posting a lengthy comment about the drama on Instagram, she explains she is still “trying to figure out what the point was with this mess”.
“I’d love to call it ignorance, but I know you ain’t that dumb,” she writes. “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.”
She closes her missive by urging fans to “Throw the whole app-oligy (sic) away”.
Rihanna isn’t the only celebrity who has been taking aim at Snapchat in recent weeks – Kylie Jenner criticized the app’s redesign last month, tweeting: “Sooo does anyone else not open Snapchat anymore? Or is it just me… ugh this is so sad.”
Following Jenner’s tweet, shares in the company fell 6.1 percent, according to Bloomberg.