Rihanna Video Banned for Daytime TV in France

By CP News Briefs, Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Rihanna’s new music video for “We Found Love” has been banned in France for being too explicit for daytime television.

The video will only be broadcast after 10 p.m. after the new ruling by the Supreme Audiovisual Council of France’s which said that the video was too inappropriate and could inspire “self-destructive behavior.”

The video features Rihanna and model Dudley O’Shaughnessy - but the scenes with the two have been described as “pronounce suggestive” by the council. It also shows Rihanna smoking, shoplifting and being spanked.

This is not the first time Rihanna’s provocative music videos have sparked controversy. Earlier this year, Rihanna’s single S&M was described as being too sexually explicit for broadcast and was banned in some countries.

Melina Matsoukas, director of Rihanna’s video, told MTV News: “We love, obviously, to do provocative imagery ... we always try to definitely push the limits.

“I think because, in the end, it's not really at all about domestic violence. It's really just about it being toxic, and they're on this drug trip and that definitely plays a part, but I think it's also about being triumphant over those weaknesses, and she leaves him. It's not trying to glorify that type of relationship.

“The bad parts of it, that's what you don't want. In the end, her leaving, it represents her getting that out of her life. The drugs and the addiction and the toxic - that's what brings her downfall and brings a lot of harm.”