Getty Images via ABCDon’t mess with Rihanna.
After the singer criticized Snapchat for displaying a third-party ad that seemed to make a joke out of domestic violence, stocks for the app dropped nearly four percent Thursday. According to The Wall Street Journal, that plunge erased about $800 million from Snap’s market value.
The controversial ad, which is a take on the game “Would You Rather?” asked viewers if they would rather “Slap Rihanna” or “Punch Chris Brown” with pictures of both artists featured. The ad was apparently a reference to the fact that Brown physically assaulted Rihanna in 2009.
On Thursday, Rihanna took to her Instagram Story to address the ad, writing, “You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to [domestic violence] victims and made a joke of it!!!”
She continued, “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. Throw the whole app-oligy away.”
In a statement to ABC News, Snapchat said, “This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service. We are so sorry we made the terrible mistake of allowing it through our review process. We are investigating how that happened so that we can make sure it never happens again.”
Rihanna isn’t the first celebrity to mess with Snapchat’s market share. After Kylie Jenner tweeted that she hardly uses Snapchat anymore, stocks plummeted. According to Bloomberg, the tweet could have cost Snapchat $1.3 billion in market value.
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