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Isaiah Washington talks to Chicago Tribune about his being fired from ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy”
Isaiah Washington, the gifted and handsome actor whose big mouth got him fired from Grey’s Anatomy in 2007, has given an interview to the Chicago Tribune that is getting a lot of attention because he said he’d be willing to work with Mel Gibson.
I could care less about that.
The part of the interview that I am interested in has to do with the controversy that led to his being booted from the ABC show which is still going strong. He had an on-set tussle in fall 2006 with co-star Patrick Dempsey and during it, said something to the effect that he was not anybody’s “faggot” like co-star T.R. Knight.
The incident was widely reported and in the process, Knight came out publicly.
Not long after, I interviewed Isaiah on the red carpet of the 2006 American Music Awards and he downplayed the incident insisting all was overblown. Then at the Golden Globe Awards in January, I was among the members of the press standing there when the winning cast of Grey’s Anatomy was on the stage. I remember standing next to Eddie Murphy and looking over at Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce leaning against the wall because the winning cast of Dreamgirls was waiting to be interviewed next.
Then, it happened: Grey’s creator Shonda Rhimes was addressing backstage controversies (downplaying them) when Isiah stepped in front of the microphone and said: “I never called T.R. a faggot.”
Knight was standing there and he and the rest of the cast looked mortified. Washington had already issued a public apology and yet here he was denying he ever said anything. Katherine Heigl, Knight’s close friend, did a TV interview moments later and blasted Washington saying “he needs to stop talking now.” She was the only cast member to speak out publicly.
The fallout was bad for Washington post-Globes. Knight went on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and talked about it and Isiah fought to keep his job by agreeing to some kind of counseling. But by the end of the season, he was fired anyway.
Here’s what he tells the Tribune now about that time:
“At the time it was very painful, embarrassing, humiliating,” he said. “I was distraught. I was nervous. I didn’t know what my future was going to be economically because I was being taken to task for something that I apologized for, and it never stopped, and I realized I was a part of a much larger political agenda.”
That agenda, he continued, involved the reaction to his progressive character. “This is not egocentric here. Dr. Burke was Barack Obama before Barack Obama, particularly in the world of the black community.” He asserted that his elite, professional African-American character was a television pioneer, one who happened to be in an interracial romance with Sandra Oh’s Cristina Yang.
“I said my days are going to be numbered, because a lot of people are going to be unhappy about that, because my character wasn’t really supposed to be as prominent as he became,” he said. “A lot of people were really concerned with where the progression of the show was going to go.”
Asked whether these people were inside or outside the show, Washington said, “Both, but those people are no longer there. The ones that had the biggest concerns about my character, what I wore, what I said, what I did, ended up leaving shortly after I did.”
He acknowledged that this was a reference to Knight, who left two seasons after Washington, and Katherine Heigl, Knight’s friend and Washington’s most outspoken critic when everything was hitting the fan; her last episode aired early this year.
Washington said the controversy never represented who he actually is. He said he considers African-American author and activist James Baldwin and other gay figures to be personal heroes, and he played a gay character in Spike Lee’s 1996 film “Get on the Bus.” After his dismissal from Grey’s Anatomy, he campaigned against California’s anti-gay-marriage referendum, Proposition 8, and he took a photo with photographer/gay-marriage activist Adam Bouska when, he claimed, “no other African-American would support it.”
But then at the end of the interview, Washington gets another attack of foot in mouth disease:
Winding up in the courtyard outside Wright’s Home and Studio, Washington sat down to pose for a photo, got a silly grin and declared, “I feel so gay right now!”
“You can’t say things like that,” chided the photographer, Keri Wiginton.
“I just said that so you could say that,” he responded with a laugh. “I say that; people go” — he gasped.
Comments
(All comments are reviewed before being published, and I review submissions several times per day.)
bellabella says:
I think Mr. Washington feels he too is a victim of sorts and I agree. Not even in this article it doesn’t seem that the complete converdation between Mr. Washington and Mr. Dempsey quoted exactly. So to this day I am not sure of what exactly Mr. Washington said. Suffice it to say, However, whatever he said was offensive to the Gay Community. But in saying that, it should also be noted, that Gay men use the term “faggot” among themselves just as some black people use the N word among themselves. So the outraged by the gay community was extravagant,given the common usuage of that phrase in their own community. Thus in my opinion the firing of Mr. Washington was a bit of an extravagant gesture. I think the network should have fined him two months pay and donated it to the gay community’s most prominent educational fund. He should have been required to make a public apologies and those PSAs. But he should have been allowed to keep his job in my opinion. I must say Ms. Heighl’s behavior in that situation was offensive to me. Her friend, Mr. Knight is a grown man and he didn’t need this blonde whom I would bet has never had to deal with one day of racial bias or homophobia in her life, to become the spokesperson for this situation. I am sorry but blonde blue eyed girls are the last to define an issue on racial bias or homophobia for me unless they are lesbian or of color. I also think that Ms. Heigl and the Network bigwigs ought to go interview any black actor who has worked in TV and film industry and listen to the stories of what those actors (I am sure that includes Mr. Washington) had to deal with (name calling, biased treatment) in their careers. I am sure when Mr. Washington or any number of black male and female actors heard the N word on the set in connection with them, they had no one to run to and in order to keep working in the business had to just deal with those humiliations. When I heard this story, I, too, felt Mr. Washington ought to be taught the hard lesson of what comes with intended or unintended bias speech toward someone or a group of someones. But I always find it odd given this country’s history and often current day attitude about race, that he gets to be the poster boy for homophobia. It was just so ironic…but the furor about this incident in the gay community seem to erupt from the wrongful idea that black folks are all homophobic…In California the law which currently makes same sex relationships legal was written by a black legislator. That same legislator as Speaker of the House in California allocated the first state funding for AIDS in the country. He also held the first marriage ceremonies between same sex adults at San Francisco’s City Hall when he became Mayor of that city. There is no doubt there are blacks that are homophobic, but so are many family members of out gays. It is true that many gay people hold powerful positions in the tv and film industry, much more so than blacks. So it was not unusual to see them use their clout to make Mr. Washington the poster boy for homophobia. I do think the other irony is that many felt because Mr. Washington must have felt the sting of discrimination as a black man, thus how could he possibly say something discriminatory…but few of those who used that reasoning…took that thought to its natural conclusion, were any of them screaming bloody murder any of the numerous times when some guy on a set called Mr. Washington, the N word?
Andrea says:
I always felt that Isaiah Washington was damned from so many aspects of this situation that the media oversimplified as a homophobe out-of-control. I never believed he was homophobic. He was just calling the systems dynamics of the power structure on the set as it was in who T.R. Knight was in status lower to Patrick Dempsey and the way Patrick probably was at the height of his media and career redemption positioned him in stature over the supporting ensemble players not as easy to be sold or wanted by the media. I always thought everything Isaiah said in this recent interview exact. And I knew he had to walk the tight rope and not seem like an Ungrateful Negro (I’m Black) in exposing all of this which would have embarrassed his employers, a Black woman not in control of the dynamics and as well their ownership, Disney.
At the time, the media made it seem like they were a family. I knew that was not the case. It was obvious how they exhibited themselves on Oprah when I saw her fawning over the cast.
I knew Isaiah was despised for being “too big” in simply being so lucky to have been graced to perform to such superb writing by a group of writers who obviously wanted to make a Black male character as complicated as his. I think he suffered the wrath of others jealousy because he was Black. It was peculiar. It was “before Obama”.
I think as well, even if he was White, he would have still had jealous cast members and crew around him just as Patrick probably had as well. Just because Patrick was the Golden Boy, it did not mean everyone liked him as well. I think the show was so hot and the cast was so big with a boss trying to give everyone substantial screen time that anyone besides the focal point, the character of Meredith, would hope to be second in line for the most screen time.
The character of Burke was a scene stealing character just as the character of Christina was. So those supporting cast members playing those parts were competitively written to be performed by anyone and reap the same incarnations of jealousy from cast and crew.
But then, it was “Before Obama” and Whites in America–meaning our White co-workers–they were not as cognizant of their rote tendencies. Katherine Heigl and T.R. Knight was jealous and like abusers of White Privilege, they took out their jealousy and refashioned it to look like they were safety patrol officers guarding their set from homophobia. They needed Isaiah Washington to play his part and mess up. They needed him to look like an evil person in order to get rid of him. They couldn’t get rid of the character or actress playing Dr. Bailey. She was focal in hazing them. They couldn’t get rid of the Chief of Staff. But they could get rid of Burke. The show did not depend on him no matter how much sensation he brought to the screen.
I was always shocked that no one figured this out. I was always amazed that no one White or gay figured all of these dynamics out. I was quite amazed and disappointed at the gay community for showing how ignorant they were and also how they leaned towards exhibiting their privilege over straight people wrongfully accused for something taken out of context.
T.R. Knight knew he was a inferior to Patrick Dempsey who was focal and could not be replaced but he also knew he was inferior to Isaiah Washington who could be replaced if the character Christina stopped her romance with him. His character was just a superb surgeon. He wasn’t the namesake of the show. He was expendable.
T.R. Knight was inconsequential to the show but made himself more circumastantial via external politics as the “outed victim” Disney and Shonda Rhimes had to remunerate. Katherine Heighl engineered this all. She also found herself in a role as a crusader.
How can the gay community be so stupid to not understand triangulation? And how can the gay community just believe every gay person is completely innocent when they are feeling victimized. The real person that victimized T.R. was Patrick Dempsey in what was obviously eluded by Isaiah of how Patrick reigned superior over the entire cast and not just T.R. in behaviors he could get away with and not the lesser appreciated cast members. That was simply an abuse we all would have probably been guilty of in Patrick Dempsey’s shoes but Isaiah brought it to Patrick Dempsey’s attention and that was like a 2nd class citizen, being Black, talking back to the superior citizen, a White man Golden Boy. Isaiah was “out of his place”. We, Blacks, know when we are “not supposed to do that” in order to save our jobs and our asses. Isaiah obviously loss control and expressed himself as an equal human being to Patrick but no one wanted to see all of that and what we Blacks go through in not playing the race card and having to bite our tongue to “not play the race card”.
If we call some Whites out on their inappropriate behaviors, we still know the consequences we probalby will face in all the variables are not aligned to support us.
Shonda Rhimes, a Black woman, was wrong. She was trying to cover her ass and quell the controversy quickly. Isaiah was a casualty. She threw him under the bus. And that is what businesses do. She was not a social servant. She was working for a corporation that wanted no controversy. Disney knew all of this but didn’t even want to fight for Isaiah because it was “before Obama”. There was no currency then.
Isaiah’s circumstance was ahead-of-the-curve. T.R. Knight and Katherine Heigl engineered ruining a Black man’s career. Isaiah Washington is absolutely not well now. He is so paranoid about being liked now and seeming well-meaning that he is trying to hard to be clever that he keeps putting his foot in his mouth trying to be likable. The “gay comment” was seemingly what he thinks will ease people’s fears about him when all it does is make them more uncomfortable. They want to believe he’s homophobic and clearly he is not. He should just stop trying so hard to stroke the (White) gay community because it seems nothing he can say or do will ever be enough.
His career was destroyed. Until someone of stature in the White gay power structure stands up for him and asks others to reevaluate what dynamics they overlooked, then he will never work again as he has hardly been able to.
Disclosure: I never met Isaiah Washington. I am not affiliated with him. I just understand what it is like to be demonized when people are too lazy to look at all variables. I know what it is like when people are lazy and look at what was engineered to be seen. I also know what it is like to have employers not stand up for you while others who are too afraid of their positions watch you deal with the wrath of collective lazyness and fear.
Sherrie says:
I stopped watching the show after Washington left; it just didn’t have the dynamic drama without him.
They shot themselves in the foot, making such a big deal about Washington’s remarks, a remark that was based on what was actually happening in and off the set.
They are all getting what they deserve, except Washington, who I keep waiting to see on some great new show, or in some amazing new movie. Come on directors, are you going to let a couple people dictate who you let act on your shows?!
Sherrie says:
P.S. Like Washington, I am also PRO Gay rights and have fought for gays to have to legal right to marry and fought against hatred and violence against gays all over the world.
I’ll bet gays in the 3rd world would think that fight was a ridiculous one: while they are imprisoned and being murdered, people in Hollywood are getting upset over one (o.k., three) people being insulted.
Aliane says:
I actually think he was treated a little harshly for basically a mistake – for which he apologized. Though I have never read such ridiculous comments in all my life particularly from people who clearly have no idea what they are talking about. How did Heigl and Knight engineer ruining his career? He is at least a little responsible for being foolish. Remember Heigl even publicly came out to say she had forgiven him and wanted to move on and didn’t think he should be fired – long before he actually was. For the first commentator – how do you know she hasn’t experienced racism? She comes from a multi cultural family. He sister was adopted from Korea and her daughter too. Also to the person who said Heigl and Knight were jealous. Jealous of what? Heigl is by far the biggest star on the show. What did she have to be jealous of?
Renee says:
Really? He’s going to turn this into a racial thing? He wasn’t fired because of his race, he was fired because his inappropriate and offensive remarks are not what ABC and its parent company, Disney, stand for. He needs to get off his high horse. There are strong, smart, successful black actors and actresses on Grey’s Anatomy (think Chandra Wilson and and James Pickens Jr.)who are still currently on the show. Their characters have evolved over the years and seasons. He wasn’t fired because he’s black- he was fired because he’s an idiot.
marje says:
I don’t think one bad remark should ruin a career. Just because people are smart enough not to say things out loud does not mean they are not thinking them. Richards , from Seinfeld , was blasted and called a racist due to one incident also. It is not right to judge on one incident or one remark. Famous people are held to a different standard because what they say becomes public, but I think we should give them a break. No one tells us what we can and cannot say.