'The Flash' star Hartley Sawyer fired from CW show after racist and misogynist tweets from his past resurface
Actor Hartley Sawyer, who played the role of Ralph Dibny in The CW show 'The Flash' has been fired after a string of tweets that contained racist and misogynist references surfaced from the past. The tweets were all from before the actor joined the series and speak of sexual assault and contain homophobic language. Sawyer's Twitter account has been deleted, however, screenshots of his tweets have gone viral on the internet.
In the wake of protests against systemic racism that began after the death of George Floyd on May 25 in Minneapolis, Hollywood stars have been calling out how the industry needs to change. In fact, Vanessa Morgan, an actor who is a part of 'Riverdale' had called out her show writers for writing Black characters as sidekicks and paying her the least among the show's regular cast.
The show's makers had responded to her claims with an apology. In the case of Sawyer, he has been fired and the news of the same was shared by The CW through a statement to the Hollywood Reporter. The CW, producers Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions and executive producer Eric Wallace said in the 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 policies, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive, and productive environment for our workforce."
One of Sawyer's tweets from 2012 read, "The only thing keeping me from doing mildly racist tweets is the knowledge that Al Sharpton would never stop complaining about me." Then again, in 2014 the actor tweeted, "Enjoyed a secret boob viewing at an audition today." Other than this, there are also several tweets that reference sexual assault. One of them reads, "Date rape myself so I don't have to masturbate."
After his past tweets resurfaced, Sawyer shared an apology online on his social media handle. He wrote, "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."
Sawyer joined 'The Flash' in 2017 as Dibney aka Elongated Man and was initially a recurring character before he was made a series regular in 2018.
