CBS pulled the Jay Z song ‘Run This Town’ featuring Rihanna and Kanye West from the kickoff of Thursday Night Football last week. After video emerged of Baltimore Ravens Ray Rice knocking his then fiancée unconscious, CBS opted not to air the song. It’s presumed that the song was pulled due to Rihanna’s past. (In 2009, she was assaulted by her then boyfriend Chris Brown and became a lightning rod for domestic abuse issues. She pressed no charges.) Rihanna is pissed about the diss and has said so via Twitter: “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.”
Was CBS’s cold-feet decision really based on Rihanna’s past association with domestic abuse? A CBS Exec just said it was eliminated because of “tone.” There’s always the possibility that an executive at CBS actually listened to the lyrics to “Run This Town,” which includes the n-word and the f-word. The intro to the song, sung by Rihanna includes “I’m addicted to the thrill / It’s a dangerous love affair.” And Kanye West sings: “All these girls only gonna want one thing / I could spend my whole life good will hunting / Only good gon’ come is as good when I’m cumming / She got a ass that’ll swallow up a g-string.” Wrong tone, apparently.
