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Rihanna responds to Snapchat ad mocking domestic violence incident with Chris Brown

Snapchat has apologised and said the advert was approved 'in error'

Ilana Kaplan
Thursday 15 March 2018 18:10 GMT
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Credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty
Credit: Ludovic Marin/AFP/Getty (LUDOVIC MARIN/AFP/Getty Images)

Rihanna has slammed Snapchat for its latest controversial advertisement which made light of Chris Brown's assault on her.

In the advert, Snapchat asked users to pick if they'd rather "Slap Rihanna" or "Punch Chris Brown," which poked fun at Brown's 2009 felony assault of Rihanna.

Snapchat apologised for the ad on Wednesday saying, "The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines. We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware."

Rihanna responded on Thursday on her Instagram Story saying Snapchat was not her favourite app, and she was trying to figure out "what the point was with this mess."

"You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV [domestic violence] victims and made a joke of it!!!" Rihanna wrote.

She proceeded to defend domestic violence victims excluding herself from the narrative.

"This isn’t about my personal feelings... 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!" she said.

In a police affadavit, the 2009 felony assault charge stemmed from Rihanna confronting Brown over a text message she found from another woman.

Brown tried to push her out of the car and proceeded to beat her until her eye swelled and she had blood filling her mouth.

He reportedly told Rihanna, "I'm going to beat the shit out of you when we get home."

She then called her assistant and told her to make sure the police were there when she got home.

"You just did the stupidest thing ever!" Brown said. "Now I'm really going to kill you!"

He continued beating Rihanna.

Brown later put her in a headlock where she started to go unconscious and she gouged his eyes while he proceeded to bite her fingers.

Rihanna ended up with "two black eyes, with large contusions under both caused by Brown's ring, a split lip, and bite marks on her hands and body."

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