Were Rihanna and the NFL ever really a match to begin with? CBS has permanently dropped the singer’s performance of her Jay Z collaborative track “Run This Town” from the intro of Thursday Night Football, after she lashed out at the network with expletives via Twitter yesterday.
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Last week, the sultry chanteuse was caught in the crossfire of frantic PR damage control as the NFL continued to change its attitude and tone about the Ray Rice conflict. When word broke that the 2009 single would be debuted at a Baltimore Ravens game, fans and critics far and wide lost their collective shit. Understandably so – to use a song by Rihanna, the most prominent musical figure to be victimized by domestic assault since Tina Turner, to promote a team whose star running-back was just cut because of his own disgusting spousal abuse, would be reaching deep into the bag of what the f*ck.
CBS made the decision to pull the song from the game, which Rihanna took deep umbrage with, as she perceived herself as being punished for being an abuse victim. When notified that CBS Sports and the NFL planned to use the song the following week, Ri lashed out:
She followed that with another tweet that read simply, “The audacity…” She also reportedly pulled the license for “Run This Town,” so the network can no longer use it.
“Beginning this Thursday, we will be moving in a different direction with some elements of our Thursday Night Football open,” announced CBS in a statement. “We will be using our newly created Thursday Night Football theme music to open our game broadcast.”
Rihanna’s label, Roc Nation, countered CBS with a statement accusing the network of “misrepresentation” in dealing with the song.
“Due to the misuse and misrepresentation of Rihanna’s name and participation in connection to CBS’ TNF, 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,” said Roc Nation in a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon.
Maybe the NFL can get that knuckle-dragging hillbilly Hank Williams Jr. to bring back the flavor they’re looking for.
