Snap Inc (NYSE:SNAP) shares fell for a second day in a row on Friday, a day after popstar Rihanna appeared to tell her 60mln Instagram followers to delete the company’s Snapchat photo messaging app.
The stock fell almost 5% on Thursday and were off another 2.4% on Friday morning to leave shares at US$16.81 – below last year’s IPO price of US$17.
Ad appeared to mock domestic violence
LA-based Snap had been forced to apologise after an advertisement on its site appeared to make light of Rihanna’s famously abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend Chris Brown, who had pleaded guilty to assaulting the Barbadian singer back in 2009.
The ad, for a game called ‘Would You Rather’, asked users if they would rather “slap Rihanna” or “punch Chris Brown”.
In response, Snap apologised and said the ad had been “reviewed and approved in error”.
“This advertisement is disgusting and never should have appeared on our service,” read a statement.
“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 refuses apology
But Rihanna refused to accept the apology, and took to Snap’s Facebook-owned rival Instagram to criticise the app.
“Now SNAPCHAT I know you already know you ain't my fav app out there! But I'm just trying to figure out what the point was with this mess!” the singer wrote.
“I'd love to call it ignorance but I know you ain't that dumb. You spent money to animate something that would intentionally bring shame to DV victims and made a joke of it.”
Fans took Rihanna’s message as an instruction to delete the app, with many taking to social media to say they were doing just that.
@Rihanna said it best. I don’t even know how this is okay. Snapchat should just go back to no pointless articles on their app, just a waste of time and space. pic.twitter.com/RTxdR95hTE
— Khaleesi ???? (@bluntedbekah) March 15, 2018
y'all thought kylie killed snapchat, but rihanna dragged it to the grave! RIP september 2011-march 2018 pic.twitter.com/GXGMnWe6Zx
— cozy spice (@sydegee) March 15, 2018
Not the first A-lister to send Snap plunging…
It is the second time in just a few weeks that Snap’s valuation has taken a hit from comments made by an A-lister.
Last month, the stock took a tumble after reality TV star Kylie Jenner tweeted that she no longer uses the app.