Ke$ha Song Pulled: ‘Die Young’ Dropped From Radio Rotation Following Newtown shooting.
Ke$ha’s new single “Die Young” has seen an apparent drop from a number of radio station rotations, a trend related to the shooting last week in Newtown, Conn. TMZ was the first to report the songs sudden removal, basing the assertion off the steep drop in radio play nationwide. Though no station has made a public statement regarding the song, “Die Young” was the number three song on the airwaves on Friday with 167 million listeners, but after the incident at Sandy Hook Elementary School, the track saw a drop of 19 million on Monday.
According to TMZ, the last time a song saw such a sudden dip in listeners came when the Dixie Chicks where blacklisted from country radio in 2003, after insulting President George W. Bush. The quiet decision to slow the song’s radio play is no doubt a cautious decision to give the American public some time to recover from the violence of last week. Ke$ha has not commented on the perceived radio pulls, but did share her condolences via Twitter.
“My heart goes out deeply to the people of Newtown, Connecticut,” she posted on Friday.
The violence in Newtown also prompted quick decisions from other media entities, resulting in the several new episodes of popular television shows being pulled from their regularly scheduled slots. Fox chose to delay new episodes of American Dad and Family Guy, due to gun violence and religious jokes, respectively, according to Deadline’s Nellie Andreeva. Cable networks were not shy either, with TLC delaying the premiere of new their new program Best Funeral Ever, and Syfy delayed the airing of a Haven episode showing violence in a high school.
Showtime aired the season finales of their hit shows Dexter and Homeland, accompanied by a disclaimer that the episodes may be disturbing due to Friday’s shooting. Media outlets will no doubt be increasingly careful about their programming in the coming weeks, as Americans continue to consider the place of violence in their society.
