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Here's why Rihanna is saying 'f*** you' to the NFL

The singer’s song was pulled from last week’s NFL broadcast following Ray Rice controversy.

TWO WEEKS AGO, CBS Sports and NFL Network proudly announced that it would open every broadcast of Thursday Night Football with a snippet of Rihanna’s Run This Town.

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The press release hailed Rihanna as “one of music’s biggest stars” and generally seemed excited about the association.

That is, until last week.

You may have read about Ray Rice, the NFL football player who was dropped from his team after surveillance footage surfaced of him punching his now-wife.

In the wake of the Ray Rice controversy, there was much discourse about the NFL’s failings when it comes to adequately dealing with players found to have engaged in domestic violence.

CBS and NFL decided that it was inappropriate to feature Rihanna’s song at the beginning of their broadcast, because the broadcast was set to focus primarily on the Ray Rice debacle.

MBFW Spring/Summer 2015 - X Versus Versace AP / Press Association Images AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images

According to TMZ, CBS didn’t want to open the sombre broadcast with the musical number, particularly as Rihanna herself was previously a victim of domestic abuse.

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus outlined the decision in a statement.

We thought journalistically and from a tone standpoint, we needed to have the appropriate tone coverage.

It seems, however, that Rihanna isn’t too happy with that explanation. Today, she tweeted the following.

The tweet has yielded much report for the Diamonds singer, with many expressing the opinion that she is being unfairly punished for being a victim of domestic abuse.

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Following Rihanna’s tweet, CBS has announced that it will drop Run This Town from this week’s broadcast and use theme music created internally instead.

Something tells us this isn’t the last we’ll hear of this.

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