After a highly promoted holiday interview with Iran’s popular Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was canceled at the last minute, Iranians cried foul, accusing state television of taking sides in a partisan quarrel ahead of the elections.

The interview was to take place with the popular television host Adel Ferdosipour, who hosts the most watched soccer news program in Iran, called “Navad,” or 90. The interview was scheduled to air on Shab-e Yalda, Winter Solstice, an ancient Iranian holiday that is secular, like Thanksgiving is in America.

Pictures of the prerecorded interview were shared widely online and on messaging services, making it a highly anticipated event. Ferdosipour, who is not a political figure, is known for his informal and personal interview format, his casual tone of conversation — at times he stumbles through sentences and will speak with his hand on his chin or over his mouth. What makes Ferdosipour stand out is that he does not pull any punches and does not shower his guests with compliments and pleasantries as many serious or hard news Iranian television journalists tend to do. Also, as a sports journalist, he has been given more leeway to make subtle criticisms of government policies, which has only increased his popularity.

Even still, very few expected a hard-hitting interview. It was expected that the interview would focus on “sports diplomacy,” perhaps even covering Zarif’s more personal side, his favorite soccer team, or on personal reflections of the nuclear talks rather than on centrifuges, sanctions or an international crisis. Ferdosipour’s interview with Hassan Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, is still very popular online for these reasons.