DiGiorno under fire after using #WhyIStayed hashtag to sell pizzas during Ray Rice scandal

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Tuesday, September 9, 2014
Rice and his wife Janay in March 2013.
creativeContent-Patrick Semansky / AP

The Ray Rice scandal has placed domestic abuse in the spotlight after Janay Rice issued a statement on Instagram today supporting her husband. In the midst of the controversy the Twitter hashtag #WhyIStayed went viral. The hashtag was a central point where women have been discussing why they stayed in abusive and violent relationships.

The Pizza retailer DiGiorno apparently didn't catch on to the seriousness of the #WhyIStayed discussion, prompting this reply below.

Hieu Trong / Twitter

DiGiorno's tweet, "#WhyIStayed You had pizza," received a big backlash on Twitter, prompting an apology from DiGiorno.

DiGiornoPizza / Twitter

Many users were critical, and some sarcastic about the pizza retailer's cheesy blunder. DiGiorno offered several personalized replies to individual users' criticisms.

jordanlarae / DiGiornoPizza / Twitter
Krishie5 / DiGiornoPizza / Twitter
angrywhodat / Twitter

Later DiGiorno deleted the tweet and an apology was hastily issued. We wait and see if a 'Help wanted, Social Media expert' job posting goes up anytime soon at DiGiorno headquarters.