CNN Plays Inappropriate Song After Segment on Sikh Temple Shooting

CNN staffers last week sparked a bit of controversy when they chose to introduce a segment on former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin with a song titled "Stupid Girls."

Today, it looks like CNN may have outdone itself in the “totally inappropriate bumper music” department by playing Billy Joel’s “Only the Good Die Young” following a panel discussion on the tragic Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting:

Granted, the song isn't about murder and it has nothing to do with the Sikh faith. It’s a boorish piece of pop-candy about a guy who's trying to sleep with a good Catholic girl.

But of all the verses in the song CNN producers chose to play, they picked these?

Well, they showed you a statue, told you to pray

They built you a temple and locked you away

Ah but they never told you the price that you pay,

For the things that you might have done...

Only the good die young

That's what I said

Only the good die young

Only the good die young.

Okay, okay, let’s be fair: CNN’s “Starting Point,” as Newsbuster’s Noel Sheppard notes, “allows guest contributors to offer a song playlist for their appearances” and Joel’s song was chosen by CNN guest Hank Sheinkopf.

Alright, we understand guests get to choose the music and we understand this wasn’t planned. But, good grief, wasn’t there at least an intern somewhere who said, “Hey, this seems like a really bad idea right now. Maybe we should play something else”?

UPDATE -- After news outlets including Newsbusters and TheBlaze reported on the inappropriate song, CNN released the following statement:

We aired a song from a guest’s playlist on the morning show following a three-minute commercial break and before a segment on presidential politics, unrelated to the Wisconsin shooting. Given the news of the day, this was regrettable and we apologize to our viewers.

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