Based on the typical Chinese response to media articles on censorship, it seems likely that CCTV and Beijing's censorship officials were placed under netizen scrutiny after the high moral parameters that tightly bound this year's Spring Festival Gala broadcast were publicized.
However, rather than a media report on the throngs of censorship-related opinions traversing and colliding along the digital routes of the Internet, a shortened program in the wake of a cancelation from two performers was the major news on Wednesday.
The cancelation came from Kris Wu and Luhan, who are members of the Chinese-South Korean boy band pop phenomenon, EXO, which was originally formed from 12 members in 2011 by the Korean entertainment group, SM Entertainment.
As the large boy band was composed of a Chinese-Korean mix, SM Entertainment created two smaller groups, named "EXO-M" and "EXO-K" for the Mandarin-speaking members and Korean-speaking members, respectively.
Although the EXO concept found success, including a historic chart placement on America's Billboard 200, both Wu and Luhan filed lawsuits against the Korean founders in 2014.
According to CRI, the televised gala cancelation is directly related to the ongoing legal proceedings, which have left the two celebrities separated from the EXO brand.
An unnamed friend of Luhan, who filed his case in October of last year, told a reporter during the same month that the pop star had "been suffering from migraines and sleeping problems," while an official statement given to the Korean media claimed that EXO-M had been treated less favorably by SM Entertainment in comparison to EXO-K.
Following the announcement of Wu and Luhan's cancelation, CCTV added that the entire performance that they were involved in was also canceled. The director of the televised event clarified that the decision was necessary because the duration of the entire program had previously been cut.