CBS yanked the song “Run This Town” from its “Thursday Night Football” telecast for the rest of the season after Rihanna, who is featured on the track, expressed anger with the network on Twitter.
CBS first pulled the song last week, saying it wouldn’t set the right tone given the ongoing domestic violence scandal involving former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice. The network was going to bring the song back until Rihanna accused CBS of penalizing her with its decision.
“CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, F*** you! Y’all are sad for penalizing me for this,” Rihanna said in a Twitter posting.
The network, part of CBS, devoted half of its pregame show last week to covering the Rice accusations, and the National Football League’s much-criticized response. To temper the upbeat tone of its first Thursday night game on Sept. 11, New York-based CBS removed “Run This Town,” a Jay-Z song featuring Rihanna and Kanye West, as well as a comedy sketch with Don Cheadle.
The singer was assaulted by her boyfriend Chris Brown in 2009. TMZ, the same website that published photos of a battered Rihanna, posted a video of Rice beating his wife in an elevator. Rihanna’s history with domestic violence was a factor in the decision, CBS Sports chief Sean McManus told the Associated Press, saying it wasn’t the primary reason.
Rihanna performed in a song and video about domestic violence in 2010 with rapper Eminem.
CBS, which had planned to bring “Run This Town” back this week, will now use a substitute theme for the rest of the season.
“Beginning this Thursday, we will be moving in a different direction with some elements of our Thursday Night Football open,” CBS Sports said in a statement. “We will be using our newly created ‘Thursday Night Football’ theme music to open our game broadcast.”
The NFL is grappling with negative publicity from a number of domestic violence incidents.
On Monday the Radisson hotel chain suspended a sponsorship deal with the Minnesota Vikings over accusations involving one of its players, Adrian Peterson.
Professional football is the most popular and valuable programming on broadcast and cable television.
Last week’s “Thursday Night Football” ranked as the second most-watched prime-time show, with an audience of 20.8 million, according to Nielsen data. NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” was first with 22.2 million viewers, while “Monday Night Football” on Walt Disney ‘s ESPN led cable ratings with an audience of 13.7 million.
CBS paid $250 million to $300 million for rights to eight Thursday night games, Michael Morris, an analyst at Guggenheim Securities in New York, estimated earlier this year.