Rihanna's 'Man Down' Video Called 'Inexcusable' by Parents Group (Video)

Rihanna and BET are in hot water over the singer's latest video, for her single "Man Down."

The clip, which premiered on BET's 106 & Park on Tuesday, shows Rihanna killing a man who has sexually assaulted her. Before it aired, Rihanna -- who was beaten by then-boyfriend Chris Brown on the night of the Grammy Awards in 2009 -- tweeted that the video has "very strong underlying message 4 girls like me."

The Parents Television Council, Industry Ears and the Enough Is Enough Campaign have teamed up to "condemn" the video because of its violent imagery. They are urging BET parent company Viacom to yank it from the air, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Paul Porter, co-founder of Industry Ears and a former music programmer for BET, in a statement called the video "an inexcusable, shock-only, shoot-and-kill theme song. In my 30 years of viewing BET, I have never witnessed such a cold, calculated execution of murder in primetime. Viacom's standards and practices department has reached another new low. ... If Chris Brown shot a woman in his new video and BET premiered it, the world would stop. Rihanna should not get a pass and BET should know better. The video is far from broadcast-worthy."

Added Enough Is Enough founder Delman Coates: " 'Man Down' is a clear violation of BET's own programming guidelines shared with the public by Debra Lee, the chairman and CEO of BET Networks. I join with the Parents Television Council and Industry Ears in calling on Viacom executives to immediately pull the video from programs that are targeted to youth and teenagers."

BET has been known to ban videos before, among them Kanye West's "Monster" and Ciara's "Ride." The network has not yet responded to THR's request for comment.