When Usher showed up on Tuesday's "TRL," he wasn't just there to promote his just-released new album, [article id="1582966"]Here I Stand.[/article] He was there to actually take a stand.

During a segment of Tuesday's show, Usher launched into an impromptu rant that found him dismissing reports that he and his wife were separating, [article id="1566367"]defending his marriage[/article] from naysayers and calling gossip about his personal life "trash." Members of the studio audience gasped and shouted their approval.

"I love my wife very, very much," he said. "There was a little rumor earlier this week about us separating. It ain't true. We in love. Get outta there," he said, raising his left hand and showing off his wedding band. "Matter of fact, I'm tired of people continuing to talk so much trash about me, know what I'm saying? And my relationship.

"My wife is not 40 years old. I love her to death and I'm a black, strong man in America standing up for my people — as a man [article id="1575151"]to my wife, to my son, to my family[/article]," he continued, removing his sunglasses and talking directly into the camera. "I'm making a stand that a lot of us should make. I coulda been like any other man who has a child and live with that woman and continue to just play the game. ... I'm trying to do it the right way. This is the way your supposed to do it! Pay attention, fellas."

Usher then turned his back to the camera, while the studio audience applauded wildly. "TRL" host Damien Fahey then attempted to continue with the segment, only to be interrupted as Ush began part two of his verbal assault.

"And my wife had nothing to do with me firing my mother — nothing like that, that's trash," he said, referring to his mother, Jonetta Patton, ceasing to be his manager last year. "I hear y'all talking crazy out there, she's a beautiful black woman. Stop. Stop talking. And I love her. Stop it."

With that, Fahey threw to Usher's "Love in this Club" video, all while the crooner insisted, "I'm not done ... can I say something else?"

However, his broadside may not have had the intended effect. Within hours, many of the sites Usher targeted were already comparing his tantrum to Mariah Carey's infamous 2001 "TRL" meltdown, in which she bum-rushed the show, handed out frozen treats from an ice cream cart and performed and impromptu striptease, all while then-host Carson Daly looked on in befuddlement.

Still others — primarily fansites like UsherForever.com — called the tirade another example of Ush's wife Tameka having him under her thumb.

"What a damn fool. If he is a grown-a-- man like he say he is then he needs to shut the f--- up," one commenter wrote.

"Ursh STOP defending ur wife, it's getting old," another added. "The more you talk bout haterz the more your album will be collecting dust on the shelves. But this is the man you've become or should i say the man ur wife has made you into. You'll end up eating all your words soon than later."