Great White Club Fire Prompts Pulling Of 'C.S.I.: Miami' Episode

05/02/2003 6:00 PM, Yahoo! Music
LAUNCH Radio Networks

(5/2/03, 6 p.m. ET) -- A Rhode Island television station is pulling the Monday (May 5) episode of C.S.I.: Miami because its depiction of a nightclub fire is too similar to the actual nightclub fire that killed 99 people in West Warwick, Rhode Island earlier this year.

The C.S.I.: Miami episode focuses on a fire caused by a D.J.'s pyrotechnics that kills 16 people and injures 58 others.

The real-life fire at West Warwick, Rhode Island's Station nightclub was set off by pyrotechnics during a concert by the heavy metal band, Great White.

CBS affiliate WPRI-TV said in a statement Thursday, "Out of respect for the victims, their families and the Rhode Island community, WPRI-TV will not air the episode."

The TV station will instead air excepts from a concert benefiting victims of the West Warwick fire.

CBS said that C.S.I.: Miami writers came up with the idea for the episode before the real-life tragedy happened.

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