Was Donna Summer tribute cut off for an ad?

By Courtney Garcia, msnbc.com contributor

Four artists were remembered at Sunday's Billboard Music Awards, but fans are buzzing about how disco queen Donna Summer's tribute was noticeably cut off.

Summer, Whitney Houston, Adam Yauch and Robin Gibb were all honored at the ceremony in different ways.

Pop star Natasha Bedingfield honored Summer, who died of cancer May 17,?calling her "a?remarkable woman who brought so much light, and who inspired many women, including myself through her music. And if we can remember her through her music, this will never really be the last dance.?

Bedingfield then began singing Summer's Academy Award-winning song "Last Dance" as photos of the icon were displayed on a screen overhead.? But?just as?Bedingfield picked up the beat for the main portion of the dance track,?she was abruptly cut off so the show could cut to commercial.?The edit left some viewers unsatisfied.

?She sounded great, but producers cut to a commercial just when Natasha was getting to the good part of the song,? pop music writer D?luv wrote on his blog, Chart Rigger. ?That was definitely one of the more tacky parts of the evening.?

??Did @ABC #BBMA's really just go to commercial in the middle of Natasha Bedingfield singing Donna Summer's classic Last Dance? Bad call,? wrote blogger Mary Burt-Godwin.

Live Poll

What did you think of the Billboard tributes?

• 184065

  Just the right amount -- it's not a memorial show

  3%

• 184066

  They shouldn't have cut off the Donna Summer song

  47%

• 184067

  There should have been some mention of Dick Clark, Davy Jones and others

  50%

VoteTotal Votes: 1391

?And Twitterer Pnelson added, ?We miss you Donna Summer but clearly "Last Dance" only gets 1min 28sec of our time. xoxo #BBMA.?

?Although four tributes may seem an unprecedented amount for one awards show, some fans felt there should have been more, pointing out that recently deceased musicial legends Davy Jones, Levon Helm, Etta James and Dick Clark were not mentioned during the show.

?Billboard absolutely blew it this year. Some heads need to roll back at headquarters,? a reader going?by Eagles Wings commented on a related Yahoo! News story.??Then to cut the tribute to Donna?(Summer) short to go to a stinking commercial. Also unforgivable. Unbounded greed at work again.??

Did you find the cut in the Donna Summer tribute song jarring? Should Dick Clark, Davy Jones and others have been honored? Vote in our poll above, and tell us on Facebook.

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