Fiery discussions erupted once again on Weibo over a video of a TV newscaster who was replaced live, on air, while he was criticizing corrupt officials.

Cui Jianbin, anchor of an agricultural news program on Longshang Channel in Hubei, frequently criticized the luxurious lives of corrupt officials on air.

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Within the seven minutes that he was on air, Cui emotionally lashed at his subjects.

"Government officials think ordinary people are blind, ignored their superiors' instructions and spent money extravagantly. [Those officials] get out as far as possible!" Cui was saying just before he was replaced.

The live news was cut off immediately while Cui was still saying, "let me finish."

The station then ran an advertisement, after which a female newscaster came on air to continue with the rest of the news program.

Longshan Channel came out with a statement clarifying the incident on its official Weibo account.

"At 8 p.m. on April 8th, the news of the channel was time-out; program director required the newscaster to finish on time," the statement said.

Netizens, however, did not bite the clarification.

"Your show does not necessarily exist if the newscaster cannot tell truth," posted Weibo user VJxiaojiu.

"Keep making the story up. Are you looking the audience as fools?" wrote netizen Little Brother Tianyecha.

Cui received more than 9,000 supportive comments on his Weibo page.

"Good job," netizen Sandao said.

"My God. [You] take our words out! You are an excellent newscaster with professional spirit and moral sentiment. Support you," said netizen Kingcrab xiao zhenger.

"You did not say something wrong. You tell the truth for people," netizen Mengsuojiangnan 2014 wrote.

Cui posted an update on his Weibo about the incident, assuring his supporters that he was not sacked after all

"I really didn't expect it to become such a big deal. I thank netizens for their concerns. My job was not affected," Cui wrote.

He did admit, though, that he had been reprimanded by his supervisors for "losing control of his emotions."