Rihanna’s ‘Run This Town’ Pulled from ‘Thursday Night Football’ Opening Amid Ray Rice Scandal

BY: Denver Sean

Published 10 years ago

rihanna

CBS pulled Jay Z, Rihanna & Kanye’s “Run This Town” from last night’s Thursday Night Football opening because they didn’t want to feature a song from a high-profile domestic violence victim.

Basically, they didn’t want Rihanna’s involvement to remind people of domestic violence and how Ray Rice knocked his then-fiancé out cold.

The song will still be featured during other games, but because it was Ravens/Steelers last night CBS Sports Chariman says they felt it to be inappropriate. Instead they opted to open the pregame show with a report from CBS This Morning anchor Norah O’Donnell, who interviewed  NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Wednesday.

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“It’s important to realize we are not overreacting to this story but it is as big a story as has faced the NFL,”  McManus told SI.com from Baltimore Thursday afternoon. “We thought journalistically and from a tone standpoint, we needed to have the appropriate tone and coverage. A lot of the production elements we wanted in the show are being eliminated because of time or tone.”

It sounds like CBS was afraid of any more social backlash. What do you think of their decision?

 

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