Actor Hartley Sawyer has been fired from the popular show, The Flash, after a collection of racist and misogynistic past tweets by him started circulating online.The tweets, all from before he joined the 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 were circulating online over the past two weeks.

Through a statement, the network announced Sawyer’s removal from the series, in which he featured as Ralph Dibny since 2017, reports hollywoodreporter.com.“Hartley Sawyer will not be returning for season seven of The Flash,” read 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 policy, which strive and evolve to promote a safe, inclusive and productive environment for our workforce,” it added.The news of his firing comes as people in the US continue to protest against systemic racism in the wake of George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis.

After facing flak, Sawyer issued an apology on Instagram.“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 behaviour,” he said.