Marc Anwar was planning to leave 'Coronation Street' before he was sacked earlier this week.
Marc Anwar
The 45-year-old actor was axed from the long-running soap after he unleashed a foul-mouthed racist rant on Twitter, but he's adamant he'd already decided he was going to bow out of his role as Sharif Nazir at the end of November anyway.
Taking to his Twitter account on Monday (26.09.16) after his apology earlier that day, he tweeted "For the record, #marcanwar was to leave show,end of contract in November, apology is from regret, for offending not at early exit. Love all (sic) ... No human controls my livelihood but My Allah. Never have never will grovel to anyone! Proud Muslim, proud Pakistani, very proud British. (sic)"
The star was forced to apology over the weekend after he referred to Indians as "b*****ds" and "p**s-drinking *****."
He said: "I would like to offer my sincerest apologies to anyone I may have offended with my tweets on Friday evening and especially people from India. This was never my intention.
"The language was unacceptable. I feel I have let a lot of people down. My family, my friends and my former colleagues. This I sincerely apologise for.
"On Friday evening I saw on the news children being pulled out of rubble, people being pelted with pellets, women mourning their dead in Kashmir. This upset me very deeply and in a moment of madness I ranted out and vented my anger. My feelings were very sincere for the people of Kashmir and I hope that everyone that everyone I have offended can find it in their hearts to forgive me."
The highly offensive tweets led to him being dropped from the ITV soap with immediate effect, although the scenes he's already filmed with still air over the coming weeks.
A statement from ITV bosses 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."
The writers have now been hit with the task of re-writing scripts as Marc's alter ego is currently involved in a huge storyline, which sees his character cheating on his wife.
Marc - who was born in Pakistan - came under fire on Friday (23.09.16) when he referred to Indians as killers and suggested people from Pakistan should refuse to work in the neighbouring country.
He wrote in a since deleted post: "Why the F***k do #pakistaniartists want work in #f*** face #india, do you love money so much. (sic)"
Subsequently, the actor posted an image of a clenched fist and added: "Ban #india movies in #PakistanisLeaveIndia. B*****ds p**s drinking #c**ts. (sic)"