Elongated Man fired from The Flash

I guess I will not be watching the Flash next season.

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While I loved Elongated Man in the show, and I wasn’t personally affected by his tweets, I respect the showrunners’ decisions. Yes, people can change and grow out of bad mindsets such as those tweets, it doesn’t change the fact that they thought it was okay to say that in the past. I don’t know what it would be like to have to work with someone like that. I don’t know what it would feel like as a black or woman cast member or fan of the show and read those words. So I won’t try and dismiss or play down those feelings. I wish everyone the best and will continue to watch the show myself.

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I won’t shed a tear for him- your words carry meaning, so you can’t say terrible things and think they’ll never carry consequences.

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They were bad tweets from six years ago. He apologized and we should have moved on.

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Once again, while people can grow and change, he was still an adult who should be able to comprehend his actions and words. We don’t know what it would feel like to work with someone who felt it was okay to say that in the past. Especially right now, we need to take a stand and decide what and who we’re okay with supporting. Let’s try to be a bit more understanding and sympathetic to others.

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So we should all put our heads in the sand and pretend he didn’t say the things he said? We would all lose our jobs for saying things like that at our place of work. The least they should do is fire him. Let him say that to someone away from the safety of his Twitter account…

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Well that sucks for me being an elongated man fan, but I believe they did the right thing after I saw the tweets.

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Yeah, the first few I read, I thought were stupid but not a big of enough deal to get fired for, but then I kept reading and was like, “Ohhhhh…”

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If they were on his twitter they probably already knew about the tweets and are acting to “prove” they are a good company. I’ve always stood on the side of the actors in situations like this. There NO reason someone should lose their jobs/career over dumb tweets.

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I disagree. Some things are too egregious and you don’t want your show (or company) associated with that line of thinking in any way.

That being said, I dont support “cancel culture” and I hope his career isn’t over due to this nonsense.

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This is the same thing Disney did when it fired Gunn, and WB was lauded by everyone for hiring him, saying how he was no longer that person. Yet they stup to the same; if he hadn’t apologized that would have been different. People grow and people become more mature. This is a bad look for CW.

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Yes, but this does not change the fact that he said what he said, and that he knew he was posting on a social media site where everybody could see what he said.

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I only read a couple, if he was saying it a year ago I guess that could be a valid point. Although I do think that James Gunn tweeted what he did, and because it was in the past WB was fine with hiring him. So that does reek of a double standard. Again, if he was tweeting things like that a year ago that is a bit different. But I do wonder if part of it isn’t also that with the shutdown going on so long not like Warner, at least in the TV field, is not losing money every week it stays shut down. And some of those guidelines make it seem like the shows will be even more expensive to produce. And Flash hired on two new series regulars right before it got real bad.

So it might be he gave them an excuse to pay one less actor in a time when budget cuts are likely going to be nessecary. (I truly believe everyone not just WB is going to soon be announcing shows and movies not yet beinging filming being scrapped or put on hiatus. I doubt they got a pot of money sitting around for if they can’t film or release anything for what is it now? 4 months and counting. Something has got to give so unfortunately for people like him, it is not a good time to be bringing bad press that justifies letting you go. Even if it was a long time ago.

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@SuperBlueGrodd And that differs from the Gunn Disney situation; how?

Be careful you are beginning to advocate a no second chance society.

Well, I’m bummed because I really enjoyed Ralph, the character’s journey, and I was looking forward to his storyline with Sue. So I hope they at least recast the character because it feels like we just started to get to know Ralph.

In regards to the actor’s dismissal, I can see both sides of the debate. What he posted wasn’t wise nor respectful. However, it does opens up other avenues of legal discussion and company lines, such as, will there ever be a Statute of Limitations? How many years do we draw the line? Does this mean my students (who are elementary age) post something quite immature mean they will never get a job when they are adults or change occupations in their 40’s if and when someone discovers their social media posts way back then?

Anytime you are in the interview process or are hired you know the first thing a company or employer does is look at your social media, or to see if you have one. Which goes into the second question did his employer’s look at his social media? If they did, then they were accepting then, but not now. So what changed? The current tweets he did, then that should have been handled by CW’s Human Resources. However, that goes into another question of does the movie and tv studios have control over someone’s opinions, jokes, pictures, and etc.?

This goes into the third question, does CW have a behavior contract in regards to social media? Do they fine their employees like the NFL, MLB, or NBA? I always wondered about this because I have seen many, many CW actors and actresses post quite a number of disrespectful things over the years. Yet, nothing happens to them. Why is this actor being focused on when you can easily look up a tweet or more on several CW employees. If you do him, then does that mean other CW employees should be fired?

Or what about non-social media incidents? I believe a few months ago Supernatural’s Jared Padalecki was recently arrested for public intoxication in Texas. Jump to a month ago his new show was picked up by the CW. Or how about Isaiah Washington who was hired a couple of years ago for The 100. He was dismissed for Grey’s Anatomy after his behavior on-set for creating a hostile work environment, and yet he was hired and continues to work.

What Hartley Sawyer said in his tweets were inappropriate, immature, and quite disrespectful. No doubt about that. I’m just wondering about where do we draw the lines, and it’s quite a slippery slope to that pandora’s box. One question leads to another to another. If anything it does open up a much needed discussion in regards to social media that needs to be looked at.

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Those tweets went beyond the bounds of any and all decency.

While he MIGHT deserve a second chance, it will obviously not be on the Flash. Furthermore, he was 29 when he wrote these, not a teen trying to be all cool and edgy. He was an adult, who should have known FAR better.

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I always wonder how sincere an apology is if it only happens when you get caught. I can certainly see tweets that are 5 (maybe 3) years old are enough time to truly reflect upon and change a very specific position.

I wou ok d also say that “the professional dangers” of twitter have been known and the repercussions seen for a long time now. Especially if you are going to be in the media business you need to be media savvy.

Many companies have a social media that if your tweets can bring the company into disrepute, you can be fired. So there is no way he didn’t know CW/WB has such a policy. The truth is tweets, Facebook posts, comments on DCU. These are digital footprints on the sands of the internet. They are digital tattoos.

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We all have said things on social media that we regret, one way or another.

But his tweets went into some really creepy territory.

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Great post and questions.

Great point. CW should do this when hiring cast if they don’t already. Especially when they decided to upgrade him to a series regular they should’ve done their due diligence.

I’m on the side of people can grow and be forgiven like James Gunn during that controversy so I’d be hypocritical not to give Hartley the benefit of doubt. I’ve never gone to the level that they both have but I’ve said edgy stuff from years ago that I regret and moved past on as a person.

IDK I just also don’t like the idea of people getting cancelled for past comments especailly years ago. Many people on social media don’t seem to want to ask questions about what someone said in their past and just immediately want those people to lose their job.

But yeah people need to be smarter on social media and companies too if they want to avoid unnecessary controversies.

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With cancel culture and such going on today and seeing how other peoples’ old tweets are getting them in trouble, why wouldn’t someone like him say to himself “uh oh, i better delete those old really offensive tweets” whether they reflect his true feelings or not? Why do people feel the need to say stupid things on the internet and then leave them there for all time? If you’ve matured and changed over the years, delete that crap!! And if you really think those offensive things, keep them to yourself!!

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