The CW’s Arrowverse has had its fair share of stumbling blocks since the COVID-19 pandemic brought the entertainment industry to a standstill in the last couple of months.
Not only did the majority of The CW’s DC properties have to alter and cut short their latest seasons, but the upcoming new seasons originally intended to be released in Fall 2020 have now been pushed back to January 2021.
However, the last couple of weeks have seen a shakeup with the talent in front of the camera. Not only was it reported recently that Batwoman star Ruby Rose has quit the titular role after just one season, but now it has been confirmed that The Flash’s Elongated Man Hartley Sawyer has been fired from the series due to the emergence of racist and misogynistic tweets on the actor’s account this week.
It was confirmed that these tweets containing references to sexual assault and that use homophobic and racist language, were made prior to the actor landing the role of the superhero Elongated Man on The Flash during its fourth season in 2017, and the actor’s Twitter account has now been deleted.
A couple of examples of these tweets include one from 2012 in which Sawyer wrote “The only thing keeping me from doing mildly racist tweets is the knowledge that Al Sharpton would never stop complaining about me.” In 2014, he wrote, “Enjoyed a secret boob viewing at an audition today.” Other tweets make light of sexual assault, and one reads, “Date rape myself so I don’t have to masturbate.”
Sawyer has since issued an apology via his Instagram account stating “”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.”
Hartley Sawyer first appeared as Ralph Dibney towards the beginning of The Flash’s fourth season where he was introduced as one of the villainous Thinker’s “bus metas” who were metahumans created by the villain to serve a purpose in his Enlightenment.
Joining forces with former rival Barry Allen and Team Flash, the super-stretchy Elongated Man became a valued member of the team both in terms of field support and comedy.
The latest season saw the introduction of Elongated Man’s comic-book wife Sue Dearbon (Natalie Dreyfuss) and fans were left to wait and see how the iconic comic-book couple would end up together.
But while Batwoman is putting out a casting call for an original character to take up the Batwoman mantle, it is unknown exactly how The Flash will work around the sudden disappearance of one of the show’s core characters.
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
