Actor Hartley Sawyer has been fired from The CW’s “The Flash” following a series of past tweets containing misogynist and racist references which have re-surfaced in the past week.
The tweets, all posted from around 2012 to 2014 and before he joined The CW series, make references to sexual assault and contain racist and homophobic language. Sawyer’s Twitter account has been deleted, but screenshots of the old posts have circulated online in the past fortnight.
The CW, Warner Bros. TV, Berlanti Productions and executive producer Eric Wallace have issued the following joint statement:
“Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven of The Flash. In regards to Mr. Sawyer’s posts on social media, we do not tolerate derogatory remarks that target any race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, or sexual orientation. Such remarks are antithetical to our values and polices, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive and productive environment for our workforce.”
Sawyer played Elongated Man/Ralph Dibney in the show and has been a major regular character in the series across its fourth through sixth seasons. He has issued an apology on Instagram, saying in part:
“My words, irrelevant of being meant with an intent of humor, were hurtful, and unacceptable. I am ashamed I was capable of these really horrible attempts to get attention at that time. I regret them deeply. This was not acceptable behavior. These were words I threw out at the time with no thought or recognition of the harm my words could do, and now have done today.”
“The Flash” is on a production hiatus with the final three episodes of its sixth season yet being pushed to the seventh. It’s likely those episodes will now have to be retooled to account for Sawyer’s sudden absence.
Source: The Live Feed
