Cinema Lounge Reviews

The actor Hartley Sawyer has been officially fired this week in his role in the hit CW show The Flash by show runner Eric Wallace after offensive tweets resurfaced from his account back in 2012. The tweets in question contained many sexist, racist, and misogynistic views. These tweets were an attempt of giving off crude humour but however gave off an entirely different view amongst his fans and colleagues.

Movie and TV star Hartley Sawyer has recently been fired from his recurring position on CW’s The Flash which he is most famous for. He joined the show back in 2017 portraying the character Ralph Dibny. An ex-cop at the Central City Police Department now turned private detective. However, since discovering his metahuman abilities, he has been working with team Flash ever since and now uses his newly found powers to help fight crime as his alter ego The Elongated Man. Hartley has been earned himself a reoccurring position on the show since his appearance.

However, fans found tweets from his account dating back to 2012 which contained highly offensive comments towards homosexuality, sexism, racism, and also misogynistic. These have caused controversy across his fanbase and close colleagues which little did he know put his position on The Flash in jeopardy and completely ruined his chances of returning to the show in season 7. Because of this, CW and The Flash show runner Eric Wallace made the choice to fire Hartley from his role on the show. Many of his fellow colleagues including the lead role Grant Gustin supported Eric’s decision and went on condemning Hartley for his actions.

 

“I’m way too black to burn from sun rays”

Tweet from Hartley Sawyer’s account.

“The only thing stopping me from doing mildly racist tweets is the knowledge that Al Sharpton would never stop complaining about me”

Tweet from Hartley Sawyer’s account.

Following the show’s decision to release Hartley from his role, the show runner Eric Wallace released a statement himself on his Instagram and Twitter explaining the situation.

Eric then went on explaining that because of recent events across the world he will do more to support everyone of all genders and ethnicity in his team. “In order to facilitate this, I will continue to find Black and Brown writers, directors, actors and producers of all genders to help tell Flash stories. Their stories are part of the American narrative, too, and must be heard.”

Hartley’s firing was seemed to be inevitable after his tweets were resurfaced due to the current situation in America following the police brutality mass protests after the killing of George Floyd by a police officer. Along with that, as mentioned before Hartley’s co-stars commented on CW’s decision to fire him including the Flash himself and also ex arrow star Stephen Amell.

Grant Gustin re-posted Eric’s statement on his social media outlets and gave his response about the matter. He supported the move made by CW and the show runner and exclaimed that his kind of behaviour is not acceptable. He commented on his post of Eric’s statement by saying “I don’t have much to add because Eric’s thoughts are stated so eloquently and powerfully. I will say I was shocked, saddened and angry when I saw the tweets. Words matter.” As well as this, Grant’s friend and ex-colleague Stephen Amell, who played Oliver Queen in The Arrow on CW, also commented on this recent event by backing up Grant Gustin’s response in support of Hartley’s firing.

Hartley Sawyer has made a statement about his tweets on his social media condemning his own action:

I’m not here to make excuses regardless of the intention, my words matter and they carry profound consequences. And mine can and have caused pain and embarrassment, along with feelings I can only imagine, to supporters and fans, my cast mates, the crew, my colleagues and friends. I owe them all an apology. And I owe each of you an apology. Thank you for holding me accountable . (Continued in caption)

Instagram post from Hartely Sawyer