Rihanna’s NFL Theme Canned

Rihanna’s vocal contribution to Jay Z’s “On The Run,” used during CBS Thursday night NFL broadcasts, has been permanently edited out of the football telecast in yet more domestic violence fallout for the NFL.

Photo: Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP

Rihanna accepts the award for artist of the year at t the iHeartRadio Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles May 1.

The vocal was removed from a Sept. 11 telecast of a Baltimore Ravens game as the network covered Ravens running back Ray Rice’s assault of his now-wife.

Apparently, network execs thought Rhianna’s vocal presence might have conjured up an unpleasant connection, as she’s a high-profile victim of domestic violence herself.

Rhianna reacted to the news with profanity, tweeting, “CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, Fuck you! Y’all are sad for penalizing me for this.” The tweet was followed by another: “The audacity … ”

That was apparently enough for CBS, which issued a statement saying it was “moving in a different direction” with different theme music.

While the network did cut a handful of elements from the first of six Thursday night football broadcasts, CBS Sports President Sean McManus said Rihanna’s own history as a victim of domestic violence was one part of the decision, but not the overriding one.

The decision means a significant loss of weekly exposure for Rhianna’s work: more than 10 million people watched the intro to the season-opening telecast, according to the Nielsen company.