Cosmetics brand apologizes after backlash for Matt Rife ad campaign

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Cosmetics brand e.l.f. apologized on Wednesday after social media users slammed it for using stand-up comic Matt Rife in a recent ad.

After the brand published the ad on social media platforms earlier this week, online users, including prominent make-up influencers, ripped e.l.f. for using Rife, who made an unpopular joke about domestic violence in 2023. The brand responded with an apology.

"You know us, we're always listening and we've heard you. This campaign aimed to humorously spotlight beauty injustice, we understand we missed the mark with people we care about in our e.l.f community," the company stated in a post on its official Instagram page.

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Make-up brand e.l.f. apologized to its customers on Wednesday after featuring stand-up comedian Matt Rife in a new ad.  (Gilbert Flores/GG2025 / Contributor)

"While e.l.f.ino & schmarness closes today, we'll continue to make the case against overpriced beauty (red heart emoji)," e.l.f. continued, suggesting they’re done with Rife being part of the ad campaign.

The make-up brand’s controversial ad featured Rife and drag queen "Heidi N Closet" as "E.l.f.ino & Schmarnes," a spoof lawyer duo in a legal commercial fighting for consumers’ rights to inexpensive cosmetic products.

The ad, published across major social media platforms, generated outrage among online users, particularly on Instagram and TikTok. 

"You didn’t have the budget for a comedian who doesn’t joke about abuse?" one user asked on the Instagram post.

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Comedian Matt Rife's new cosmetics ad received backlash from social media users who brought up his old jokes in order to invalidate the new commercial. (Weiss Eubanks/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)

"Nikkietutorials," a cosmetics influencer with almost 9 million followers on TikTok, commented, "aaaaaaandddd you lost me... Matt Rife out of ALL people? 😟 so disappointed."

Maddy Lucy Dan, a TikTok user with 1.4 million followers, rehashed the Rife controversy in the post’s comments section, writing, "In Matt Rife’s Netflix stand-up special Natural Selection he opened with a domestic violence joke, implying a woman wouldn’t have a black eye if she could cook."

During his 2023 stand-up special, "Natural Selection," Rife told the story of eating at a Baltimore restaurant with a friend when they noticed their female server had a black eye. He explained that the two of them questioned why the restaurant owners wouldn't have the employee work in the kitchen to avoid customers asking questions.

"Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn't have a black eye," Rife joked. 

The joke outraged people online at the time, but rather than apologize, the comic doubled down, putting out a statement that directed social media users to a link offering an "apology" if they had ever been offended by a joke he told. The link brought users to a website where they could purchase special-needs helmets.

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