On the Billboard Music Awards Wednesday night (Oct 13), Demi Lovato performed her new song with a message for viewers to “VOTE.” But when the pre-recorded performance aired during the telecast, the huge backdrop was gone.
Demi’s new song “Commander in Chief” takes direct aim at President Trump. In the original version, which TMZ obtained, the performanced included the word VOTE displayed across the video board on stage. But that final message was gone when the show aired on TV. Instead, the clip ends with a close up shot of of Demi at the piano.
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Sources told TMZ that 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. Perhaps NBC holding a town hall with the president the following night influenced the network’s decision to pull their punches. Nevertheless, Trump dissed the network ahead of the televised town hall anyway.
Making the decision to edit the performance even more of a head scratcher: the NBC twitter account posted a photo of the performance with “VOTE” clearly visible in the background.
.@ddlovato always delivers. #BBMAs pic.twitter.com/h2HiXp7fRK
— NBC Entertainment (@nbc) October 15, 2020
Demi doubled down on criticizing the president via song earlier in the day, saying, “I literally don’t care if this ruins my career.” Watch the performance that aired on NBC below. To see raw footage of the original performance that ends with the “VOTE” message, check out TMZ.
