Coronation Street actor Marc Anwar has been sacked from the hit soap, after a racist rant appeared on his Twitter page.
The actor, who plays Sharif Nazir in the show, has been formally dismissed after allegedly tweeting abuse directed at Indians, calling them “p— drinking c—-.”
It’s understood that the rant was in relation to the conflict between India and Pakistan, and the recent news that 17 Pakistani soldiers were killed at a Kashmir army base.
Marc was born in Pakistan before moving to the UK in his youth. He has had a successful career in both TV and film roles.
In the UK, Marc’s character is currently the centre of one of Coro’s main storylines, so editing him out of the scenes would be basically impossible.
Marc Anwar
The offensive tweets
Soap bosses are now thought to be attempting to reduce his screen time as much as possible while the storyline is resolved.
A spokesperson for ITV, the network that screens Coro, said: “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.”
According to sources close to the soap, the rest of the cast have been banned from speaking out on the matter.
