In February 2009, Brown and Rihanna, who were dating at the time, got in a fight that ended in violence. The rapper turned himself in and was charged with felony assault and making criminal threats. He eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years of probation and domestic violence counseling.
The ad asked users if they would rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown.” Although it is unclear how long the message was on the app, a spokesperson for Snapchat addressed fans’ concerns in a statement to Us Weekly on Wednesday, March 14.
“The advert was reviewed and approved in error, as it violates our advertising guidelines,” a spokesperson for the app said in a statement. “We immediately removed the ad last weekend, once we became aware. We are sorry that this happened.”
Rihanna herself even blasted the platform.
Is it just me, or is this ad that popped up on my Snapchat extremely tone deaf? Like what were they thinking with this? pic.twitter.com/7kP9RHcgNG
— Royce Mann (@TheRoyceMann) March 12, 2018
Snapchat pulled the ad from the platform after users took to Twitter to condemn its message.
I know that social media ads go through an approval process from the platform.
This means @Snapchat approved an ad that makes light of domestic violence.
The update ain’t the only thing that’s wack over there, friends. https://t.co/PmbJn4zCel
— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) March 12, 2018
How do you feel about this #cocoabees ?
