Photo by Raphael Dias/Getty Images for Budweiser

CBS Sports made some late changes to its Thursday Night Football pregame show due to the news surrounding former Ravens running back Ray Rice.

The network cut an opening segment featuring Rihanna singing the Jay Z song ‘Run This Town’ as well as a comedic segment that had been planned. Instead, it opened with James Brown introducing CBS News anchor Scott Pelley who did a quick recap of Thursday’s news relating to the investigation into the NFL’s handling of Rice’s case.

Alex Riethmiller, a spokesman for the NFL Network which partners with CBS for the Thursday night broadcast, told USA TODAY Sports the change to the introduction was part of a number of changes made to Thursday’s broadcast to make room to discuss the Rice situation.

“It’s important to realize we are not overeacting to this story, but it is as big a story as has faced the NFL,” CBS Sports chairman Sean McManus told SI.com, which first reported the changes. “We thought journalistically and from a tone standpoint, we needed to have the appropriate tone and coverage. A lot of the production elements we wanted in the show are being eliminated because of time or tone.”

The opener featuring Rihanna and actor Don Cheadle is expected to return to the broadcast next week.