Unless you watch CW’s The Flash on a regular basis, chances are you could care less about Hartley Sawyer. He’s been playing Ralph “Elongated Man” Diby on the superhero series for a few seasons and is pretty popular. Let’s just say that his disappearance is going to be very tough to explain, because Sawyer ain’t coming back to the show after past racist and misogynistic tweets have come back to haunt him.
Tweets from around years ago have emerged and gone viral, and they don’t make Sawyer look very good at all. While they are all obviously jokes, and some pretty damn weak if you ask me, others are pretty gross. What’s the punchline in saying “If I had a wife I would beat the hell out of her tonight lol”? Other jokes are racist, target overweight people, and even those who commit suicide. If anything, they show him to be a guy with a fucked up sense of what’s funny.
Here’s a statement THR received from Warner Bros. TV, Greg Berlanti Productions, and exec-producer Eric Wallace, confirming Sawyer will not return for The Flash’s seventh season…
“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 polices, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive and productive environment for our workforce.”
While I no longer watch The Flash, this all happens at an interesting time. It’s only been days since Ruby Rose vacated her role on Batwoman, with a brand new character introduced as the lead. Will Flash producers find a way to explain to write Ralph off the show? Or will they recast the role with a new actor and keep it movin’?
