‘The Flash’ star Hartley fired from the show

The actor made racist tweets against George’s death and ongoing protests in Minneapolis

LOS ANGELES: Actor Hartley Sawyer got fired from popular show ‘The Flash’ after a collection of racist and misogynistic past tweets by him started circulating online, leading to widespread backlash.

The tweets, all from before he joined series, made references to sexual assault and contained racist and homophobic language. Sawyer’s ‘Twitter’ account also got deleted, but screenshots of the old posts were circulating online over the past two weeks.

Through a statement, the network announced Sawyer’s removal from the series, in which he featured as ‘Ralph Dibny’ since 2017, reported ‘hollywoodreporter. com’. “Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven of ‘The Flash’,” read a statement from ‘The CW’, producers of ‘Warner Bros. TV’ and ‘Berlanti Productions’ and executive producer Eric Wallace.

“In regards to 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 police, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive and productive environment for our workforce,” it added.

The news of his firing comes as the people in the US continue to protest against systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

Showrunner Eric Wallace also tweeted: “This morning, many of you learned that Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven of ‘The Flash’. Concerning his social media tweets, they broke my heart and made me mad as hell. And they’re indicative of the larger problem in our country.”

After facing flak, Sawyer also issued an apology on ‘Instagram’.