How Rihanna defending her controversial video 'Man Down'

Pop artist Rihanna has defended her latest controversial video, 'Man Down', as art amid increasing protests from media watchdogs to stop airing the video.

The video, which premiered on BET's 106 & Park on May 31, shows Rihanna in an implied rape scene with a man whom she later guns down in an act of premeditated murder.

The video has irked media watchdogs. The Parents Television Council has called Viacom to stop airing it.

Man Down is 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 prime time. Viacom’s standards and practices department has reached another new low,” said Paul Porter, co-founder of Industry Ears and a former voice of BET.

But the singer has described the video as an art with a message.

Rihanna, 23, was attacked by Chris Brown in February 2009. On February 8, 2009, Rihanna's scheduled performance at the 2009 Grammy Awards was canceled. Reports later surfaced regarding an alleged altercation with then-boyfriend, singer Chris Brown, who was arrested on suspicion of making criminal threats. On March 5, 2009, Brown was charged with assault and making criminal threats.

“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,” Porter stated.

Meanwhile, Rihanna tweeted in her twitter blog that her new video Man Down has very strong underlying message 4 girls like me.

Young girls/women all over the world...we are a lot of things! We're strong innocent fun flirtatious vulnerable, and sometimes our innocence, she tweeted.

Meanwhile, Man Down is a song taken from Rihanna's fifth studio album Loud.

Following is the controversial video: