A Coronation Street star who was sacked from the show following racially offensive tweets is said to be running to become an MP.
Marc Anwar starred on the ITV soap for two years as Sharif Nazir. He was booted off the show after making a series of offensive comments online in 2016. He is now said to be planning to stand as an independent candidate in Bury North. The Pakistan-born actor was dismissed after the Sunday Mirror revealed he branded Indians “b*****ds” and “p**s-drinking c**ts” in a series of tweets.
Anwar issued an apology and insisted it was a “moment of madness”. At the time he said: “I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to anyone that I may have offended with my tweets on Friday evening and especially people from India. This was never my intention and the language was unacceptable. I feel that I have let a lot of people down, my family, my friends and my former colleagues.”
However, he later insisted that he was already set to leave Coronation Street when he was axed. Just months after his apology, Anwar claimed ITV took “the easy option” and made him a scapegoat. He accused the broadcaster of “total disregard for the person that had been with them for the last three years”.
He added: “ITV did what they did, to protect their brand. Absolutely fine. I was dispensable. I believe a number of wrongs took places and [they] made [a] scapegoat of a Pakistani-born Muslim.” After his tweets surfaced, ITV issued a statement that read: “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.”
He also appeared in Emmerdale in 2002 as Dr Ajit Devgan, Holby City and Doctors. Anwar has reportedly set up a GoFundMe page for his political campaign. He pledges to hold Israel to account “for committing a genocide” and ending “corruption in local and national politics”.
In his statement, he branded himself an “actor, broadcaster, social activist, charity worker”. Anwar has raised £418 out of his targeted £15,000 so far. The actor had joined Corrie as part of the first Muslim family to move onto the cobbles. His character Sharif was married to Yasmeen, played by Shelley King. However, he was caught having an affair with her best friend Sonia Rahman.
Due to Anwar’s offensive tweets, the huge affair storyline had to be edited to deal with his sudden exit. ITV sources had told the Sunday Mirror that producers were to “give urgent consideration to minimising the actor’s presence in the show until the character can be exited.” Fans were furious Anwar appeared in episodes following his axing, yet soap queen Sharon Marshall explained it was too late to pull the whole show.
