Britain’s ITV has sacked Pakistan-born actor Marc Anwar from popular television soap Coronation Street for “an astonishing racist attack” on Indians, Sunday Mirror reported.
The newspaper reported that 45-year-old Anwar was sacked within hours after it alerted ITV bosses of his anti-India rant.
Anwar, in a series of tweets, besides unloading profanities on Indians, referred to them as killers of Kashmiris and called for banning Indian movies in Pakistan.
An ITV spokeswoman 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."
His character, love cheat gym boss Sharif Nazir, will still appear in scenes that have already been filmed for upcoming episodes.
The actor has appeared in Hollywood films including "Captain Phillips" and "51st State".
The show Coronation Street started in 1960 and became the longest-running soap opera in the world in 2010.
Screenshots of tweets by Anwar, who plays Sharif Nazir in the series, were first posted by the Sunday Mirror.
The actor later went on to delete some of his most offensive tweets, some media reports said.
On Monday, Anwar posted a video apology on twitter describing his angry outburst as a “moment of madness” when he vented his anger. He said he let a lot of people down with his “unacceptable language”.
“The language I used, I sincerely apologise for. But my feelings are sincere for the people of Kashmir,” he said.
India’s Prime Minister will review the Indus Water Treaty, an agreement between the two countries for distribution of river water originating in Kashmir, as a result of the escalating hostilities.
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