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WARNING: Graphic Content!!! Do NOT push play if you don't want to see the explicit video!!!

Worst TV Show of the Week

2011 Billboard Music Awards on ABC

To illustrate the incongruity of the 2011 Billboard Awards being shown on the Walt Disney-owned ABC network during the heart of Family Hour, consider the scene not two minutes prior to Rihanna’s now-infamous, perverted “S&M” opening number: Dancing with the Stars and America’s Funniest Home Videos host Tom Bergeron, flanked by Disney’s iconic characters, Mickey and Minnie Mouse, Pluto, Donald Duck, and Goofy, awarded AFV’s grand prize to an adorable family with four young children, the two little girls wearing matching pink bows in their hair. Their prize: five years’ worth of vacations to five different Disney Resorts. As the ecstatic kids waved to camera, the broadcast led straight into Rihanna in handcuffs and bondage gear.

Needless to say, the sexual content alone was alarming, but the fact that ABC/Disney allowed this to enter the homes of millions of families was simply deplorable, and as a result the network and the Billboard Awards (Sunday, May 21, 8:00 p.m. ET) both rightfully deserve the title of Worst TV Show of the Week.

After a five-year hiatus – and with a reputation mired in past controversies – the Billboard Awards returned packed with tons of star power. Undoubtedly, the producers must have been emboldened by the huge ratings the Grammy Awards enjoyed during its February broadcast, which saw an increase of about 10 million viewers while still keeping the festivities relatively tame. But unlike the Grammy Awards, the Billboard Awards opted for a show-opening befitting of its Las Vegas setting.

Clad in a white leather bondage-inspired outfit replete with handcuffs, Rihanna sauntered onto a circular stage where men’s arms popped out of the sides to grope her as she sang the lyrics, ““Sex in the air, I don't care, I love the smell of it/Sticks and stones may break my bones but chains and whips excite me.” At one point, the men emerged through the trapdoors and took turns writhing with her. Midway through the performance, Britney Spears hit the stage in a black leather version of the same outfit with a bunny-ear mask. This being Vegas, both women went to opposite sides of the stage to give a sample of their pole-dancing skills, finally ending the routine in a girl-on-girl pillow fight.

No stranger to controversy, the Billboard Awards has received plenty of criticism in the past for blindsiding viewers with extreme content. In 2002, Cher used the F-word during her acceptance speech. The following year, as a presenter, Nicole Richie said, "Have you ever tried to get cow s*** out of a Prada purse? It's not so f***ing simple."

There is no way ABC can claim Rihanna’s performance was a “fleeting expletive.” ABC knew exactly what it was getting into, featuring a song called “S&M.” As PTC President, Tim Winter stated, ““The song title alone reeks of the adult entertainment industry and last night’s performance wasn’t far from it. Why does a Vegas sex show need prime-time TV coverage when children are watching? What happened in Vegas should have stayed in Vegas, as the saying goes. It certainly has no place at 8:00 pm on the publicly-owned broadcast airwaves.”