Rihanna in domestic violence row with US television network

Singer Rihanna arrives for the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards (CFDA) at Lincoln Center in New York on June 2, 2014. -- PHOTO: REUTERS
Singer Rihanna arrives for the Council of Fashion Designers of America Awards (CFDA) at Lincoln Center in New York on June 2, 2014. -- PHOTO: REUTERS

NEW YORK (AFP) - Pop star Rihanna on Tuesday blasted a television network for wavering on whether to broadcast one of her songs at an American football game, amid a furor over domestic violence.

CBS had planned to play Jay-Z's "Run This Town," featuring Rihanna, on its Thursday Night Football program pitting the Pittsburgh Steelers against the Baltimore Ravens - whose star Ray Rice has been banned from the league over knocking out his then fiancee.

As Rihanna was the victim herself of a highly publicised 2009 assault by singer and then-boyfriend Chris Brown, CBS dropped her song from the broadcast - but later backtracked.

"CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, f--- you!" Rihanna wrote in an early morning tweet. "Y'all are sad for penalising me for this," she tweeted. "The audacity."

CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus, speaking last week to Sports Illustrated, said the network had made changes amid criticism that the professional sports world was slow to punish the Raven's Rice, who was filmed at a casino knocking out the woman who is now his wife.

The network also cut a comedy segment from Thursday's broadcast as "we needed to have the appropriate tone and coverage", the executive told the magazine.

Chris Brown pleaded guilty in 2009 to assaulting Rihanna, who suffered facial injuries and was forced to cancel an appearance at that year's Grammy Awards.

Rihanna later resumed a relationship with Brown, shocking many fans.

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