Rihanna four hours late to school appearance

Rihanna has infuriated students after arriving over four hours late for an appearance at an American high school.

The 25-year-old singer was scheduled to address 2,000 kids in the gymnasium at Barrington High on Friday afternoon.

The students won a visit with Rihanna after placing first in a national competition to produce a video for her hit single Diamonds.

Students began lining up as early as 10:30am to catch a glimpse of the star for her scheduled 1:00pm arrival.

But they began walking out in droves as 5:00pm rolled around and Rihanna had yet to show.

Students nicknamed the afternoon "the survive Rihanna event", according to the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper.

Seventh-grader Jaki Mora called the singer "pathetic".

"It's one thing to be fashionably late. This is just rude. Our lives don't revolve around a pop star," another student, Patricia Halle, fumed to the publication.

"Our school worked hard to win this. She should be more respectful," she said.

Rihanna was eventually introduced at 5:30pm.

She blamed traffic for her tardiness when she tweeted on her way to the event earlier in the afternoon.

"This Chicago traffic is not working," she captioned a photo of herself on the freeway.

Rihanna's appearance lasted a reported 16 minutes.

The singer told the kids she was "impressed and touched" seeing their video and gave out hugs before making her exit.
Rihanna is scheduled to perform at the city's United Center on Friday night.