Viewers of gay Chinese soap-opera Addiction are up in arms over the show’s sudden cancellation by censors.

The 15-episode drama, which follows the lives of four gay high school students, was just 3 episodes from its conclusion when it was abruptly taken off-air.

No reason has been given for the show’s cancellation but speculation is rife online. A search for ‘removal of Addiction’ on popular Chinese social networking site Sina Weibo yields 110 million hits, reports China’s Global Times.

The show’s producers are baffled at the cancellation. “There’s no reason. It’s a result of the broader context,” Addiction writer Chai Jidan told news outlet ifeng.com. The show is reportedly the the second most-watched show on iQiyi, China’s leading commercial online film and television portal.

Many commentators have suggested that the show’s frank handling of LGBT themes clashed with mainland China’s authorities’ uneasy relationship with homosexuality, reports Time.

Homosexually was only officially decriminalised in 1997 and remained a “mental illness” until 2001.

Last year, a short film following the experience of a closeted gay student returning home to visit his parents went viral, generating 100 million views.

The video, which was produced by PFLAG China, featured scenes of Chinese mothers imploring fellow parents of LGBT children to not let “traditional views of marriage get in the way of your kid coming home.”

Addiction is available on Youtube.