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COMEDIAN Matt Rife is getting a lot of hate over his controversial new e.l.f. makeup ad about “overpriced beauty.”
His inclusion in e.l.f.’s TikTok campaign has been slammed by viewers months after he fended off plastic surgery rumors.
Upset women have vowed to stop buying the brand – with mothers declaring they won’t purchase it for their daughters, and ardent fans sharing their feelings about their disgust over the tone-deaf ad.
Customers have criticized the firm for including Matt Rife to plug makeup despite a domestic violence joke he told in 2023.
He faced backlash after jokes on his Netflix special appeared to make light of domestic violence.
Rife told the story of eating at a restaurant with a pal when they spotted their female server had a black eye.
They discussed why the owners wouldn’t have the woman working out of sight – 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 in the special.
One person who slammed e.l.f.’s decision ranted on social media, “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.”
“You didn’t have the budget for a comedian who doesn’t joke about abuse?” asked another shocked viewer on the brand’s Instagram post.
E.l.f. was scorned for being “disgusting” by one shopper, while another consumer asked, “Is Matt Rife here to sell us concealer for black eyes from domestic violence?”
And another user wanted to know if the brand would “put Andrew Tate in an ad next?”
The brand has now apologized for upsetting loyal customers, admitting it “missed the mark.”
The TikTok ad features Rife, 29, and drag queen Heidi N Closet, an American drag performer who was a contestant in RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The advert has attracted nearly 20,000 comments on TikTok alone in since being launched on Tuesday.
It features the pair fronting a spoof legal commercial – “E.l.f.ino and Schmarnes defending your eyes, lips, funds.”
It asks “have you fallen victim to overpriced beauty?”
Rife jokes that E.l.f.ino and Schmarnes have, “gone to court for millions of clients, helping them to access beauty products they deserve at prices that won’t injure their livelihoods.
“I know a thing or two about red flags, and pricey makeup, you deserve better than that.”
He then opens up a suitcase stuffed with piles of cash, and makeup.
The pair – described as “affordable beauty attorneys” – then offer to help provide “cold hard lash”.
There were fears that Heidi might suffer as a result of the “disgusting” ad.
One person wrote, “Why did you put the beautiful, hilarious, heidi with matt? Heidi deserves this ad, you did her dirty by putting them together.”
Another warned, “Sales are gonna plummet and they are gonna blame Heidi when it’s actually Matt Rife’s fault.”
One viewer noted: “In his Netflix special [he] joked about domestic violence… He’s a very unlikeable person.”
Another vowed, “I will never spend another dollar with elf. They know the jokes be made about D V.”
And one fumed, “Your gel moisturizer and cream moisturizer are perfect for me; I’ve been buying them religiously.
“And now I’m done. It’s absolute bulls**t for you to make money off women and give it to Matt f***ing Rife. May the company plummet.”
Another fumed, “Okay cool. So elf really doesn’t give a s**t about us, the ones that actually support the business!
“Why on this green earth would you ever think that Matt Rife would be a good spokesperson for elf cosmetics? do you guys really just want to go under?”
Many requested recommendations for alternative makeup, with one lamenting, “Darn I loved ELF but as a domestic violence survivor I simply can’t buy from you guys after this.”
The huge backlash follows a mixed reaction to Sydney Sweeney’s racy jeans ad in July.
Some – such as US President Donald Trump – praised it as “the hottest”, while critics compared the advert, which declares “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans”, to “Nazi propaganda”.
The U.S. Sun has contacted e.l.f. and Rife for comment.
Kory Marchisotto, E.l.f. beauty’s global chief marketing officer, told the Business of Fashion “Obviously we’re very surprised,” at the negative response.
“There is a big gap between our intention and how this missed the mark for some people… we always aim to deliver positivity, and this one didn’t.
“So we find ourselves in a position where, quite honestly, that doesn’t feel good for us.”
The firm issued a statement on Wednesday, which said, “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.
“While e.l.f.ino & schmarnes closes today, we’ll continue to make the case against overpriced beauty.”
It follows speculation about Rife undergoing multiple plastic surgeries – gossip that he quashed in his memoir published last year.
He sparked rumors that he quietly went under the knife after fans discovered old photos of the star with a drastically different look.
