This week E.L.F. cosmetics has been met with heavy backlash online after premiering an advertisement starring controversial comedian Matt Rife following his harmful domestic violence jokeMatt RifeE.L.F. was slammed for featuring comedian Matt Rife in their advertisement(Image: elfcosmetics/Instagram)

E.L.F. cosmetics has been hit with fierce backlash online after dropping an advertisement featuring controversial comedian Matt Rife – who was recently issued a chilling warning – with many long-time customers now boycotting the company.

This week E.L.F. debuted a new campaign promoting their products which featured a sketch titled e.l.f.ino & schmarnes: Affordable Beauty Attorneys starring Matt Rife and drag queen Heidi N Closet. In the advertisement, the pair took on the roles of two lawyers advocating for more affordable makeup products.

After the ad aired, many took to the YouTube comments expressing their outrage over the decision to allow a man who has previously made jokes about domestic violence to represent their brand. Matt being the face of E.L.F.’s latest ad comes as he has also recently made headlines for his controversial purchase of Ed and Lorraine Warren’s famed Connecticut property, home of the haunted Annabelle Doll.

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Under the new advertisement, one critic wrote, “My low buy is becoming a no buy. Thanks elf for hiring matt rife and making it so easy!” Another person added, “Ew, ELF hired Matt Rife?!? Did they think we forgot about how awful he is.”

E.L.F. adMatt Rife starred in a new E.L.F. advertisement(Image: elfcosmetics/Instagram)

While a third wrote, “Elf Cosmetics says on their ‘elf cares’ site that elf stands for empowering legendary females while also simultaneously hiring someone who makes light of DV. You can’t claim diversity and feeling safe and inclusion while also wasting your marketing budget. I’m so glad everyone else is catching onto the bulls–t because y’all deserve it.”

And someone else chimed in, “There’s no reason to have Rife here. He doesn’t like women, he sure shouldn’t be in an ad….. targeted for women.” While another echoed, “Ew, the guy who makes fun of DV victims and children. Time to boycott.”

The 29-year-old comedian was previously entangled in controversy after delivering an insensitive joke about domestic violence during his Netflix special Natural Selection. In the bit, Matt tells the story of a waitress with black eye working in a Baltimore restaurant.

At the restaurant, Matt explained that his friend suggested that she should work in the kitchen to avoid customers seeing her injury. Matt then replied, “Yeah, but I feel like if she could cook, she wouldn’t have that black eye.”

After the joke, Rife said, “I figure if we start the show with domestic violence, the rest of the show should be smooth sailing.”

Many fans took issue with this harmful joke and are now expressing their distaste for E.L.F.’s choice in casting him in their commercial. In response to the backlash, E.L.F. issued a statement that read, “You know us, we’re always listening and we’ve heard you. This campaign aimed to humorously spotlight beauty injustice.”

They continued, “We understand we missed the mark with people we care about in our e.l.f. community. While e.l.f.ino & schmarnes closes today, we’ll continue to make the case against overpriced beauty.”

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