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Rihanna Rips CBS for Pulling Thursday Night Football Introduction, Network Responds

Rihanna
Rihanna ripped CBS via Twitter on Tuesday, Sept. 16, for pulling her Thursday Night Football introduction and wanting to air it instead this coming Thursday -- read CBS' response!

That's a no-no from RiRi! Rihanna ripped CBS via Twitter on Tuesday, Sept. 16, saying she was angry that the network had pulled her Thursday Night Football introduction last week due to the domestic violence case surrounding NFL star Ray Rice

"CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday?" Rihanna, 26, wrote to her 37 million plus followers. "NO, F— you! Y'all are sad for penalizing me for this."

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The network cut Rihanna's opening performance of "Run This Town" last Thursday at the Baltimore Ravens game after footage of the team's star running back, Ray Rice, beating his then-fiancee Janay Rice emerged online. Most fans and critics agreed that Rihanna — a former victim of domestic violence — performing at the Ravens game when the team was plagued by scandal, would not sit well with viewers.

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CBS made the decision to lead last Thursday's broadcast with a more serious intro, which included a powerful plea from James Brown to stop domestic violence, and a recap from Scott Pelley on the latest news surrounding Rice.

"It’s important to realize we are not overreacting to this story, but it is as big a story as has faced the NFL," CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told SI.com. "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."

Rihanna and Don Cheadle, who joined her in a comedic segment for the taped intro, were expected to return this Thursday, Sept. 18. However, the R&B songstress followed up her initial sentiments with another tweet on Tuesday.

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CBS heard Rihanna's cries and said they would no longer be using her music. "Beginning this Thursday, we will be moving in a different direction with some elements of our Thursday Night Football open," the network's senior vice president of communications, Jen Sabatelle, said in a statement. "We will be using our newly created 'Thursday Night Football' theme music to open our game broadcast."

Rihanna's rep released the following statement to Us Weekly on Thursday afternoon: "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."

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