From The Hollywood Reporter: "Hartley Sawyer Fired From "The Flash" After Racist, Misogynist Tweets Surface (Exclusive)".
The Hollywood Reporter wrote:
Actor Hartley Sawyer has been fired from The Flash after a host of his tweets containing misogynist and racist references were surfaced in the past week.
The tweets, all from 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 two weeks. His firing also comes amid nationwide protests against systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd's May 25 death in Minneapolis.
"Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven of The Flash," reads a statement from The CW, producers Warner Bros. TV and Berlanti Productions and executive producer Eric Wallace. "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.
Replies
I've seen the tweets, and they're pretty damning. Hateful and stupid.
Some of the ones I read went beyond "Look at me, I'm an edgelord" into "Should this guy be running around loose?" territory.
If they were before he was cast in the role, I can see that future casting decisions will include checking social media, similar to how many businesses do.
I'm surprised they're not already. I feel as though people still haven't fully assimilated the way that things they post on-line can come back to haunt them.
Richard Willis said:
I didn't look at them before, but I have now. Ouch.
Also, it seems these were revealed by Skai Jackson, of the Disney Channel show Jessie and its spinoff Bunk'd. She has made it a mission to expose bigots by reposting their tweets. Amazingly, she's only been at it since Thursday.
They've probably been doing it for a couple of years, but Sawyer was cast a number of years ago, and he might have been considered already vetted because he was on another CW show before Flash.
I'm really disappointed in him.
Should be easy to recast Ralph, though, as he's already been shown to be able to change his appearance. Just give him a reason to change it permanently. (Anything from a willing, conscious change, to after-effects of a freeze ray while in another form. Easy-peasy.)
I am told that Hartley Sawyer's tweet resurfaced May 30, and he apologized, but nobody noticed until he got fired today.
I am told that Hartley Sawyer's series of tweets resurfaced May 30 and he apologized, but it went under the radar until he got fired today.