The Flash star Hartley Sawyer has been fired from the show after his historical racist, homophobic and misogynistic tweets were unearthed.

The 35-year-old has played Ralph Dibny - aka Elongated Man - for the last three years but has been let go with immediate effect following the revelations, which were detailed in The Hollywood Reporter.

The offensive tweets stretch back almost 10 years and include the comments "if I had a wife I would beat the hell out of her tonight lol", "the only thing stopping me from doing mildly racist tweets is the knowledge that Al Sharpton would never stop complaining about me" and "jingle bells, batman smells, women shouldn't vote".

In a statement on Twitter, The Flash showrunner Eric Wallace wrote: "Concerning his social media tweets, they broke my heart and made me mad as hell. And they're indicative of the larger problem in our country.

"Because at present, our country still accepts and protects the continual harassment - unconscious or otherwise - terrorizing and brutalizing of Black and Brown people, which is far too often fatal.

"That's why our country is standing up once again and shouting, 'ENOUGH!' and taking to the streets to bring about active change."

Sawyer deactivated his Twitter account some time ago but posted an apology via Instagram, writing: "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.

"I am incredibly sorry, ashamed and disappointed in myself for my ignorance back then. I want to be very clear: this is not reflective of what I think or who I am now."

The sixth season of The Flash was cut short by the coronavirus pandemic, with the seventh now expected to premiere early in 2021.