Isaiah Washington on Larry King Live: Please tell us it's over

As we reported yesterday, Isaiah Washington appeared on a pre-recorded Larry King Live last night to finally tell his side of the Grey’s Anatomy saga.

To make a long story not as long, here is how it all began according to Isaiah:

Patrick Dempsey and Washington were driving to the set of Grey’s Anatomy, which was an hour and-a-half drive. They were already late and Dempsey needed a cup of coffee (that bastard!). Isaiah "failed as a leader" by not standing up to him, and due to Washington’s “failure", Washington and Dempsey both ended up three hours late to the set. Just like two divas!

Soon after, Isaiah Washington and T.R. Knight are chatting it up on a plane ride about the happenings on the job. Knight supposedly complained about “Patrick’s behavior” and that his role on the show was too small.

Fast forward to October 9th, Dempsey is late again, Washington calls him on it and the two get into a shouting match. Supposedly there was no choking and according to Isaiah, “I said there's no way you're going to treat me like a ‘B’ word or a ‘P’ word or the ‘F’ word.” Washington stresses — and this is important — that he was in no way referring to Knight, and that he only meant the ‘F’ word as “someone who is being weak." Like an Aaron Spelling plotline, the argument is mysteriously leaked to the press, Washington delicately implies T.R. Knight is to blame, and the media firestorm begins.

The fire calms, but at the Golden Globes on January 15th Washington responded to an “intrusive tabloid journalist” by saying in front of millions, “I did not call T.R. Knight a faggot.” From there, T.R. appears on the Ellen DeGeneres Show saying that Isaiah Washington did call him a faggot.

Isaiah Washington claims Knight is a liar. King asks why Knight would lie and Washington replies, “Because he has been very disappointed at playing the character he's been playing. He told me that.” Isaiah’s thesis is Knight used the scuffled to push his career ahead and get more airtime — think Eve Harrington in All About Eve!

Isaiah says, “I got to clear my name. This is misinterpreted — I did not say — I said, yes, you're not going to ‘B’ me, ‘P’ me, ‘F’ me, because I'm not T.R. I never said you are T.R. Going back to me thinking that I could be the big brother, to defend my family and T.R. which is not my place to do, against so-called bullying.” Wait — "because I'm not T.R.?"

But I thought he never referred to T.R. during that altercation, as he said earlier. More on if Isaiah was referring to T.R. Knight with the F-word:

Larry: But you weren't referring to him?

Isaiah: Yes. And I told him that that day in Chandra's office.

Larry: And what did he say when you said...

Isaiah: He just said, "Well, you're trying to" — I said but remember, you know, the conversation we had on the plane, you know, about you feeling very angry about how certain things were being handled and the way you were being treated. I said you know if anything, the only reason I brought your name into this is because I felt like I was defending you against some bullying.

Defend T.R.? So, he admits to saying, “I’m not T.R.” The reports that came out and even AfterElton reported was, “I'm not your little faggot like T.R. Knight.” So, Isaiah did bring T.R.’s name into the spat with Dempsey, but he feels because he didn’t say, “You are T.R.”, but “I’m not T.R.” that T.R. shouldn’t be offended? Wait, did anyone in the past six months actually misinterpret that Washington had called Dempsey "T.R.", as he suggests was the cause of all the confusion? This is pathetic.

Larry goes onto quiz Washington:

Larry: No matter what I was accused of being weak or whatever, that's a word I wouldn't think of. I might say a sissy. Are you accusing me of being a sissy? I might say that. I would never use that word you used. Why do you think — where did that come from?

Isaiah: Well, I kind of grew up in a gay community here in New York and…

Larry: Do you have gay friends?

Isaiah: Yes. And the word was thrown around quite a bit. That makes no excuse.

So because he heard gays in New York City use the term when he “grew up” in New York that is where the word came from in a moment of anger to stress he is not “weak”? If Isaiah mainly heard the word in the gay community, then his context would not be one of “weakness”, as he put it, it would be one of “reading” or even “comedy”. Two drag queens calling each other a faggot is much different than two straight men, one who is associating the word with “weakness”. I would hope with Isaiah having “grew up in a gay community here in New York” that he would be more progressive to realize that.

On who should be fired:

Larry: Should anyone have been fired?

Isaiah: I think T.R. should have been addressed. Yes, I do because I think the behavior that he promoted — and they're all gagged now so they're not going to respond to this. There will be no comment just like they did to the gay community about me.

Well, if Isaiah was being a “big brother” to T.R. or “defending him against bullying” as he put it then what bad behavior did T.R. promote? Why would Isaiah be defending bad behavior — I thought T.R. was being bullied?

Washington did add he has supporters in the gay community, “Yes. I have a lot of — you know Melissa Etheridge — I got a lot of people. I don't want to name them.” Also, he explains he felt completely comfortable in drag, “Nigel Finch, I auditioned in full wig and dress to be a part of a film here in New York called Stonewall. And I friend of mine picked me up in a car and I was chased by some men — because they actually thought I was a woman — all the way back to Brooklyn.”

Yes, it does seem that Isaiah is not taking full responsibility for the F-word situation; but I do believe the true failure lies in the hands of ABC. Washington explained he tried to resign twice and even spoke with the President of ABC and said, “But it was shut down and I kept being told will take care of it, don’t talk, don’t talk.” So, Washington was encouraged to not resign and he says ABC paid for the public service announcement and half of his “executive counseling” sessions. ABC dropped the ball. If they wanted him out, they should’ve let him resign months ago.

Washington said he does not have any plans for a lawsuit, but his lawyers might. In addition, he admits to feeling sorry for himself at times. However, when asked if he believed any of this had to do with race and if he were white would the situation be different, Washington gave a hesitant, “I don’t know”. He then backpedaled from all of the comments he recently made to Newsweek and other outlets about race being a huge factor in his firing, and obliquely suggested that he hadn't made those comments himself (maybe the Isaiah-bot did a few print interviews in his place?).

Washington became emotional when talking about a supportive member of the cast, Sandra Oh, who did reach out to him via email. It felt like a sincere moment through all of the muddiness of the interview.

Overall, Washington continually expressed deep regret for every using the F-word in reference to a co-worker, even if he seems blind to the repercussions and is quick to blame others for what resulted from his mistake. I, for one, believe Washington is truly sorry for what he did. His rationale is definitely hard to follow, but, again, ABC seems to have handled this situation so poorly and slowly that I am sure Isaiah isn’t the only one out of the Grey’s Anatomy cast and crew who are hurt.

More than anything, Isaiah has said more than enough about this legendary incident that will go down in pop culture history. Let’s hope after this interview he will never mention this again. If I see Isaiah in an interview with on Oprah or Barbara Walters I’m going to scream!

Here is the link for the complete transcript.