Demi Lovato was one of the performers at the Billboard Music Awards last night, and for her time on stage, she delivered the live debut of “Commander In Chief,” a scathing criticism of Donald Trump. If Lovato was trying to make a point with her performance, the full message may not have gotten across, as some think that she was partially censored.
At the end of Lovato’s performance, the word “VOTE” appeared in giant text on a screen behind her. That wasn’t seen during the NBC broadcast, though, as the final shot was instead a close-up of Lovato. TMZ cites sources who say “the network pulled the plug on the ‘VOTE’ message because the song itself was a slam on Trump and the ‘VOTE’ message was a call to vote against him,” also noting that “show producers allegedly felt the word was too divisive and cut it from the final product.”
This left fans upset and taking to Twitter to ask questions like, “Hey @nbc any reasonable explanation on why you censored Demi Lovato’s performance of Commander in Chief on #BBMAS2020?”
https://twitter.com/ddlsunset/status/1316587565655502849
Meanwhile, another user had a positive takeaway from the situation, writing, “you did it, demi. you got their attention, they censored your 4 words message, they are disturbed. people are having conversation. your purpose is fulfilled. i’m proud of you @ddlovato.”
https://twitter.com/lovatoxsuju/status/1316595672854847489
Lovato also premiered a new video for the song last night, so check that out below, followed by more reactions to the alleged censorship.
https://twitter.com/smallthhings/status/1316584977623068675
https://twitter.com/love4lovatos/status/1316580512484544512
Demi wanted to perform this song on the BBMAs to encourage people to vote, yet NBC censored the visuals during her performance, which defeated the purpose… pic.twitter.com/pJmd9z8Puf
— hani (@demiaintsorry) October 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/darianamiley/status/1316584796345241601
