Week after week, Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine urges Americans to vote for the contestants he mentors on NBC's The Voice. But on Tuesday night's top 8 results show, viewers unexpectedly heard him proclaim, "I hate this country."

Levine uttered the brief comment — which you can listen to at the 1:14 mark in the video, below, from the show's official YouTube page — just moments before America's votes eliminated his early frontrunners Judith Hill and Sarah Simmons. Seconds earlier, his other finalist Amber Carrington was spared. The moment appears to be the result of a hot mic.

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Levine responded early Wednesday morning with dictionary entries on Twitter.

joke-noun1. something said or done to provoke laughter or cause amusement, as a witticism, a short and amusing anecdote, or prankish act — Adam Levine (@adamlevine) May 29, 2013

hu·mor·less(hymr-ls)adj.1. Lacking a sense of humor.2. Said or done without humor — Adam Levine (@adamlevine) May 29, 2013

light·heart·ed Function: adjective1 : free from care, anxiety, or seriousness : happy-go-lucky 2 : cheerfully optimistic — Adam Levine (@adamlevine) May 29, 2013

mis·un·der·stand Pronunciation: \(ˌ)mi-ˌsən-dər-ˈstand\Date: 13th century1 : to fail to understand 2 : to interpret incorrectly — Adam Levine (@adamlevine) May 29, 2013

Joke or not, the statement caught viewers by surprise, with some expressing their disbelief on Twitter. Here's a sampling of tweets that Levine's "I hate this country" phrase incited:

Someone is gonna get fired for leaving @adamlevine's mic on when he said "I hate this country" #thevoice — Ashley Hevener (@ashhev) May 29, 2013

Does @adamlevine get deported for saying "I hate this country" on the voice tonight? lol hey US we'll trade you for Bieber! — David DK Kelly (@SeaDogsDK) May 29, 2013

If Christina woulda said "I hate this country" like Adam did today, ppl woulda tweet her so much hate but since it's Adam everything is cool — SpanishTina! (@lovE29eR) May 29, 2013

I think @adamlevine saying "I hate this country" was completely unnecessary. @nbcthevoice @nbc — Nathaniel (@onlynathaniel) May 29, 2013

hearing adam levine say "i hate this country" from off camera is a small comfort in the wake of the voting tragedy that happened this week. — Dianne Choie (@diannechoie) May 29, 2013

The two best singers on @nbcthevoice got voted off, I agree with Adam, "I hate this country." It's not the voice, it's the country show — BGALLY11❤ (@1Dfan4life_14) May 29, 2013

@imgregrunge @thevoice_tf1 Adam clearly meant to say "I hate country (music)" — Richard Pyle (@pyle27) May 29, 2013

@rcooney13 he has the right to be pissed! at least his team had genuine talent. — skylar mann (@skymann02) May 29, 2013

Contestants with the lowest votes are eliminated every week. People can vote via phone calls, texts and online through NBC.com, the Zeebox app, the NBC app and The Voice Live Facebook app. In 2011, The Voice became the first televised singing competition in the U.S. to allow iTunes sales to count as votes.

Image via Trae Patton/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images