Demi Lovato's Billboard Music Awards Performance Was Reportedly Censored
Demi Lovato's Billboard Music Awards Performance Was Reportedly Censored
Lovato performed her new song with a message for viewers to "VOTE."
Demi Lovato just debuted the first live performance of her song, "Commander in Chief," at the Billboard Music Awards — but the appearance was seemingly censored by NBC, the network airing the awards show.
Though Lovato performed the song against a backdrop spelling out "VOTE" in large letters, TMZ reported that the message was gone when it aired on TV. Instead, the televised performance featured close-ups of Lovato at the piano.
Sources told TMZ that NBC cut the vote messaging because the song itself criticizes Donald Trump, and the "VOTE" message was a call to vote against him.
"Commander in Chief" takes aim at Trump's handling of the COVID-19 crisis as well as his response to racial injustice.
The song lyrics include: "Commander in Chief, honestly / If I did the things you do / I couldn't sleep, seriously / Do you even know the truth?/ We're in a state of crisis, people are dyin' / While you line your pockets deep / Commander in Chief, how does it feel to still / Be able to breathe?"
"There's been so many times that I've wanted to write the President a letter or sit down with him and ask him these questions," Lovato told CNN about the song. "And then I thought, I don't really actually want to do that and I thought one way that I could do that is writing a song and releasing it for the whole world to hear and then he has to answer those questions to everyone and not just me."
