In the wake of the recent Ray Rice domestic scandal, the internet was quick point out that Rihanna and Jay Z’s Thursday Night Football theme, “Run This Town,” was going to be played before this week’s Ravens vs Steelers game. Rihanna as we all know was the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of her former boyfriend Chris Brown. So the NFL did what any testosterone fueled ultra-violent boys club would do, they punished the victim. The NFL removed the song from the broadcast in order to have a series discussion about domestic violence, you know the one that they should have had back in February, but waited for until TMZ forced them to by sharing a video of Ray Rice punching his (now) wife in the face.
This week the NFL decided to pull Rihanna’s Thursday Night Football theme, and replace it with a conversation about domestic violence, including a monologue from NFL Today host James Brown, who said (Via The Washington Post):
“Two years ago, I challenged the NFL community and all men to seriously confront the problem of domestic violence, especially coming on the heels of the murder-suicide of Kansas City Chiefs player Jovan Belcher, and girlfriend Kasandra Perkins. Yet here we are again confronting the same issue of violence against women.”
Listen, we get that having a victim of domestic abuse open a game for a team that a Ray Rice played for could be considered ironic. The same way that having a man named James Brown, give a speech about domestic violence, could be considered ironic. However, do we really need to reduce Rihanna back to victim statues. Would the theme song have been interrupted if had it been by any other artist?
Do you think the NFL did the right thing in this seemingly no win situation? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
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