Editor’s Note: Carol Costello anchors the 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. ET edition of CNN’s “Newsroom” each weekday. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.
Story highlights
A song featuring Rihanna, a past victim of violence, was shelved after Ray Rice case
Carol Costello praises Rihanna for refusing to be victimized in the process
She says Rihanna gave voice to anger simmering as result of recent controversy
Costello: Good for Rihanna that she wouldn't be victimized again
I love you Rihanna.
You succinctly gave voice to the anger that’s been building ever since Washington Post columnist George Will wrote skeptically about young women caught up in a “supposed campus epidemic of rape, a.k.a. ‘sexual assault.’”
You remember that? Will said, in his special Will way, that when colleges and universities “make victimhood a coveted status that confers privileges, victims proliferate.”
You, Rihanna, gave voice to the anger that’s been simmering since Rush Limbaugh said, “no means yes if you know how to spot it,” and Fox & Friends joked about “taking the stairs” ‘cause there are cameras in the elevator to record you punching your lady.
You, Rihanna, succinctly said, in two words, how many women feel for getting blamed for everything from raising “problem children” to “feminizing” men.
F*** you!
Rihanna slams CBS for pulling song
Mr. Goodell, if you’re wondering why you’re getting so much grief for that that two-game suspension you handed to Ray Rice for decking his fiancée, I’ll spell it out. You provided the tipping point for the anger women feel for getting blamed for just about everything bad that happens to them.
It’s why Rihanna is so upset that CBS pulled her song “Run This Town” from Thursday Night Football because, well, in Rihanna’s words: “Y’all are sad for penalizing me for this … CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, F*** you! Y’all are sad for penalizing me for this.”
Oh, and don’t say you didn’t penalize Rihanna for what Ray Rice did to Janay Palmer.
CBS Sports Chairman Sean McManus told the Associated Press that Rihanna’s history of domestic abuse at the hands of Chris Brown was “among several factors considered (for pulling her song) but was not the overriding one.” To make matters worse, it wasn’t even Rihanna’s song! It was Jay Z’s song. Rihanna was merely performing alongside the man who discovered her.
As Rihanna tweeted, “The audacity…” and forbade CBS to use any of her songs in its Thursday Night Football lineup ever again. CBS promptly announced: “Beginning this Thursday, we will be moving in a different direction with some elements of our Thursday Night Football open. We will be using our newly created Thursday Night Football theme music to open our game broadcast.”
Wise move CBS. It would have been a colossal mistake to bully Rihanna into singing for the NFL.
There have been so many strong, female voices speaking out about crimes against their sisters, and you know what? People are listening.
Universities (Princeton most recently) are more aggressively tackling sexual assaults on campus, there are now consequences – at least for some – for spouting irresponsible garbage about female victims. And the NFL? It has now hired female advisers to shape its domestic violence policy.
Dare I say again, I love you Rihanna.
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