Last week, CBS pulled Jay Z’s “Run This Town,” which featured singer Rihanna, from Thursday Night Football opening between the Baltimore Ravens and Pittsburgh Steelers.
With Rihanna previously involved in a domestic violence dispute with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown back in 2009, and the recent Ray Rice scandal, CBS released this statement on Thursday:
“It’s important to realize we are not overreacting to this story but it is as big a story as has faced the NFL,” said CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus. “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.”
After the suspension of the Baltimore Ravens star Ray Rice, CBS planned to replace the musical opening with a brief discussion of Roger Goodell’s recent comments regarding the scandal and domestic violence.
Rihanna took to Twitter, following the announcement, criticizing the network and angrily tweeting, “CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, F**K You! Y’all are sad for penalizing me for this.
“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 Don Cheadle voiceover to “Run This Town,” by Jay Z, Kanye West and Rihanna will remain a part of the Thursday Night Football opening.
According to Billboard, however, Roc Nation released a statement on Tuesday indicating that “Run This Town” was pulled by the label, and not by CBS.
“Due to the misuse and misrepresentation of Rihanna’s name and participation in connection to CBS’ [Thursday Night Football], CBS was not allowed to license and utilize the song ‘Run This Town.’ Roc Nation made the decision to not grant the song’s usage.”
