Rihanna Blasted for Violent New Video

Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic

Rihanna has come under fire from the Parents Television Council, the Enough is Enough campaign and entertainment think tank Industry Ears for her new "Man Down" music video, in which she is depicted gunning down a man in cold blood as payback for an implied sexual assault. The groups are urging Viacom, the parent company of BET and MTV, to stop airing the clip, which debuted yesterday.

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Rihanna claims that the video and the song, which is about a woman struggling with guilt over accidentally murdering a man, is meant to encourage female empowerment. Her critics, on the other hand, see the video as a dangerous revenge fantasy that sends the wrong message to young women. "Instead of telling victims they should seek help, Rihanna released a music video that gives retaliation in the form of premeditated murder the imprimatur of acceptability," argues Melissa Henson of the Parents Television Council.

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Rihanna herself is a victim of domestic violence. The singer was attacked in 2009 by Chris Brown, her boyfriend at the time.

You can watch the video for "Man Down" below.

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Song Stories

“Baby Got Back”

Sir Mix-a-Lot | 1992

While watching a Budweiser commercial during the Super Bowl, Sir Mix-a-Lot thought the skinny female models in the ad didn’t represent reality. So he wrote this ode to ample bottoms, featuring its famous to-the-point lyric: “I like big butts and I cannot lie.” MTV banished the video, featuring shaking booties and sexually suggestive fruit, to 9 p.m. or later. “I thought my career was over,” he told Rolling Stone. “Then I called Rick Rubin, and I told him the video was banned, and he was like, 'Great!' We sold another 2 million records.”

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