The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Hate crime probe into Corrie actor
Police: Star sacked over tweets
Police have launched an investigation into comments about Indian people made by sacked Coronation Street actor Marc Anwar.
The Pakistan-born actor – who played Sharif Nazir in Corrie – was axed from the soap after Coronation Street bosses were alerted to his Twitter comments.
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said: “On Sunday police received a report of a hate crime.
“Police have launched an investigation and inquiries are ongoing.”
A newspaper published screenshots of messages posted on Anwar's private Twitter account which appeared to hit out at India over Kashmir.
The news comes after Anwar apologised for using “unacceptable” language, saying that his “rant” was a “moment of madness”.
Anwar, who joined the soap in February 2014 as a member of the first Muslim family on the cobbles, issued a video apology, hoping that people “forgive me”.
“I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to anyone that I may have offended with my tweets on Friday evening and especially people from India,” he said. “This was never my intention and the language was unacceptable. I feel that I have let a lot of people down, my family, my friends and my former colleagues.”
“This I... very sincerely apologise for.”
He later denied that he had apologised in an attempt to save his career and called his comments “stupid, stupid, stupid”.
“The tweets came out and I can’t take them back,” he said. “The language leaves a lot to be desired.”
He added: “I’m not a bigot, not a coward and not a liar. I’m definitely not a racist.”