The TCA panel for Private Practice, the spin-off from Grey's Anatomy just finished, and while there were hardly any Isaiah Washington questions during the panel, they came fast-and furious during the press Q-and-A afterward. Here is what what Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes had to say about the controversy.

How difficult a decision was it to release Isaiah on a personal level?
Shonda Rhimes:It wasn't. It was a decision that took a long time coming. It felt like it was the right decision for all of us.

So this wasn't a decision that was forced upon you? This was something that you agreed with?
SR: The great thing about Mark Pedowitz [ABC Studios Head]and Stephen McPherson [ABC president] is they never imposed anything on me.

So you agreed with the decision he should not come back?
SR: Of course I did.

You were quoted as saying it was disturbing the thought that one black actor could be replaced with another. Do you have any second thoughts about saying that, particularly in light of the recent recast on Private Practice?
Rhimes: No, I think there's a point there. I think that Preston Burke, the character that audiences have come to know and love for three season[s], it's very different. And at a time which there was some talk of, 'Let's cast this actor or that actor... " sort of naming a bunch of black actors. As if the only thing that was important about the character of Preston Burke was his race. That was disturbing to me. It's a very different situation from the enhanced two-hour [episode of Private Practice], which was our version of a pilot. Pilots get recast all the time. Ours just happened to air. It wasn't a matter of needing to find another black actor. It was a matter of, Audra McDonald is the person we want.

Do you understand that there were people that interpreted this as you turning a homophobic incident into a racial incident?
Rhimes: Do I understand? I do now. Absolutely. But I do think that that moment of discussion about that was disturbing to me -- as disturbing as the entire incident that happened for T.R. and Isaiah.

Continue reading after the jump.

In retrospect, do you wish maybe you had spoken out sooner about the whole thing?
Rhimes: Here's the thing. I know for you guys it's incredibly frustrating that I didn't say something. And I'm kind of sorry, because I know you guys have stories to tell. For me, the story we have to tell is the story of the show and my instinct when something like this happened is to sort of close the doors and hunker down with people that are my family and protect them as much as possible. The outside world became far less important to me than those people that I work with every day. And making sure that those people that I work with are OK. I wasn't worried about the outside world. The outside world's not something that I can control. But the people I work with every day were. And I really was spending my time dealing with that, not dealing with whether or not I should make a statement.

When was the moment when you realized, 'You know, we're going to have to make a change here?'
Rhimes: Again, I feel like this is stuff that happened in our family, and I don't want to give specifics on sort of how and what happened. But there was a moment when I was sure and felt good and comfortable about the decision and that it was the right decision to be made for everybody.

How are things between you and T.R. now?
Rhimes: We're good. I feel like everybody is working really well together. T.R. is doing some amazing work. We're moving forward. We're excited about the stories we're telling this season. It feels like they're fresh... and we're going with the idea that we want to have a little bit more fun this season.

Hmm, I'm not sure how much of this I'm buying. If Rhimes is so concerned about protecting her family, how come she never spoke out about T.R.? She had no trouble speaking out about Isaiah and the possibility of his being re-cast rather than "hunkering down" to protect him. Why the different rules for him and T.R.?

As for reporters telling "stories", there is a huge difference between reporting the news and writing for television. I was frustrated by what I saw as stonewalling and hoping it would all blow over without questions being answered honestly. All along Rhimes has had trouble accepting that this is news, not some made up soap opera — having gone so far to accuse reporters of being less than honest in covering what happened on the set.

At least she finally addressed it and with any luck, this will be our last post on the subject!