By John Talliday-
Coronation Street actor, Marc Anwar, has been sacked from the soap for posting racially offensive comments about Indian people on Twitter.
The 45 years old Pakistan-born actor joined the ITV soap in February 2014 as a member of the first Muslim family on the cobbles. His racial comments were stupid for a man of Pakistani origin, given the fact that Pakistani’s are a minority group who have long been the subject of racist remark themselves.
SCREEN SHOTS
Screen shots of messages posted on his private Twitter were published in The Sunday Mirror- the Uk’s post popular Sunday newspaper. Anwar’s comments were directed against India over Kashmir, and called for Pakistani actors to stop working in the country. He also referred to Indian people as “bastards” and “piss-drinking cunts”.
Anwar has appeared in Hollywood films including Captain Phillips and 51st State. He was immediately dismissed after the paper alerted ITV bosses about his daft racist comments.
However, it is believed he will still appear in some forthcoming episodes, since it is impossible to edit him out of scenes previously been filmed.
Coronation Street bosses plan to minimise his presence in the show until his character can be completely eliminated.
An ITV spokeswoman said in a statement: “We are deeply shocked by the entirely unacceptable, racially offensive comments made on Twitter by Marc Anwar. We have talked to Marc and, as a consequence of his comments, he will not be returning to Coronation Street, with immediate effect.”
ITV’s reaction to Anwar’s racist comments go a long way to show how unacceptable racist comments are considered in respectable organisations, and will serve as a warning to all that such actions will not be tolerated.
Anwar’s comments are also a reminder of how stupid some celebrities are, not to be aware that stupid comments they make in public will return to haunt them. Anwar’s acting career should be over now, as anybody who takes him up will effectively be endorsing the unacceptable racial comments made by Anwar.
Most importantly, Anwar has just shown himself to be very foolish by throwing his career away, and also looking an idiot for spouting racial comments as a Pakistani man himself.