Enraged Billy Joel fans put network big shots on blast Sunday night, after a televised concert was cut off in the middle of his best-known song.
Viewers who had been waiting for the longest time for the CBS broadcast of the 100th concert of Joels residency at New Yorks Madison Square Garden had to wait just a little longer when it was delayed by the networks extended coverage of golfs Masters Tournament.
Then, toward the end of the show, as Joel performed a rousing version of Piano Man with the MSG audience and fans at home singing along, viewers in many cities saw their screens cut to black, followed by local news:
At least one station offered both an apology and an explanation.
As a man who grew up right next to Billy Joels hometown, who went to The Last Play at Shea, it was my duty to apologize to everyone about cutting off our telecast of Billy Joel tonight, Evan Closky, sports director of 10 Tampa Bay, said on X , the former Twitter. Not to get into the weeds, but there was a special report after the Masters and it wasnt accounted for by the powers that be beyond this building.
Closky wrote that tons of stations in the Eastern and Central time zones cut to local news, and that the problem wasnt at those local stations but was a mistake by people higher than the local affiliates, sadly.
Rex Smith of WANE 15 in Fort Wayne, Indiana, also apologized to viewers:
But most fans had no idea what happened or why, and hopped on social media to express their outrage.
Some compared it to the infamous 1968 Heidi game , in which NBC cut away from a football match between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders to show the childrens movie.
Viewers missed one of the most dramatic endings in the sports history.
Billy Joel fans on Sunday called out the shameless CBS decision-makers who oughta know by now how to run a concert telecast and many took to X to apply some pressure :
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