The anchor for Sky News Australia's program "Outsiders," Ross Cameron, was fired by the channel's chief executive soon after he called Chinese people "slanty-eyed, yellow-skinned" live on air.
"If you go to the Disneyland in Shanghai, on any typical morning of the week, you'll see 20,000 black-haired, slanty-eyed, yellow-skinned Chinese desperate to get into Disneyland," he said.
The show's host used the phrase to prove that Chinese were also interested in Western culture, but the channel's management was dissatisfied with his approach. In an official statement, Sky News' chief executive called Cameron's language "totally unacceptable in modern Australian society" and said that all recordings of the show had been removed from the channel's platforms.
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Social media users were divided in their attitude towards Cameron's resignation. Many netizens described the decision as part of an ongoing trend of limiting freedom of speech.
Many twitterians slammed Sky News for sacking their favorite TV host over a phrase that they considered to be harmless and not racist.
Some even suggested cancelling their subscriptions to the channel.
Others blasted Sky News for listening to "trolls" who have advocated for firing several of the channel's hosts.
However, several twitterians, with former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd among them, supported the channel's decision.