US actor Hartley Sawyer (35) is off his job on the TV series "The Flash". After a few old tweets with racist, homophobic and misogynistic content had appeared in the past week, the makers of the series decided to fire the 35-year-old.
A statement by the US broadcaster CW, from which the US portal "The Hollywood Reporter" quotes, says about Sawyer's dismissal: One should not tolerate derogatory remarks "on race, ethnicity, national origin, gender or sexual Orientation ". Sawyer's comments would contradict the broadcaster's "values and policies." One tries to create a "safe, integrative and productive environment" for the own workforce.
The corresponding tweets, such as from 2012, and Sawyer's Twitter account have since been deleted. Screenshots of it circulate on the Internet.
Showrunner Eric Wallace ("Eureka") also spoke up and wrote on Twitter: "Sawyer's tweets broke my heart and made me incredibly angry. And they indicate a bigger problem in our country." In the future, Wallace will work even harder to make the series as diverse as possible – in front of and behind the camera.
"I am ashamed"
Sawyer had already apologized for his tweets via Instagram a week before his release: "My words, whether meant as a joke, were hurtful and unacceptable. I am ashamed that I was able to make these really terrible attempts to attract attention at the time. I deeply regret it, "wrote the 35-year-old, who has been part of the cast of" The Flash "since 2017. Sawyer says that he is a different person today than he was then, but still has "a lot of work to do".