They put out a press release stating that they would be using 'Run This Town' for Thursday Night Football Opening featuring her name. The truth is, she did nothing special for the game. They just licensed a Jay Z song that featured Rihanna.
In fact, her rep tells TMZ, "Due to the misuse and misrepresentation of Rihanna's name and participation in connection to CBS TNF, CBS was not allowed to license and utilize the song 'Run This Town.' Roc Nation made the decision to not grant the song’s usage."
Her angry tweets DOES imply that at some point she was willing to go along with it. However, she put her foot down the moment they penalized her for the Ray Rice domestic abuse scandal using her name as the sole reason for why they scrapped the song. They unfairly used her as a scapegoat for their damage control.
Then, attempting to save face, the network planned to air the game opener which featured the song this Thursday. But Rihanna told them no way in hell and to "f*** off."
This statement says it all really: "Rihanna is livid at the NFL and CBS ... claiming the league and the network had no right to make it look like she was part of the Ravens/Steelers Thursday night pre-game show ... and had no right to single her out when it was scrapped."
Oh, how the plot thickens!