Isaiah Washington Fired From Grey's Anatomy

This is excellent news to start off my day with!

I find it interesting how there are some who say "yeah, he did a wrong thing, but he apologized, went to rehab, etc"

first of all....rehab for name calling is the most hilarious thing ever. i mean, hell....wouldn't ALL of us be in rehab by now? OY.

second of all.....i don't care if he did apologize.....we all know why he DID apologize...but my main point is this -- In ANY workplace, there would be serious consequences for this sort of thing....if i said such a thing, i'd be either fired OFF THE BAT or put on leave without pay, etc.....but they didn't seem to punish him at all....that's my problem with the whole thing...and they took so long to fire him...another problem. idiots.

I don't personally know Isaiah Washington, but he comes off in interviews to me very much like his TV character, Dr. Burke. Arrogant, rude, and most of all ignorant. Come on, it's 2007 here, my 7 year old knows it is wrong to call someone a name like this. I think Mr. Washington insulted and humililated TR Knight to try to make himself the "better", "more popular" character on this show. Thinking that by outing TR he would win over more fans. Can you say backfire? I love Grey's Anatomy, I love TR Knight, and personally I am so glad Isaiah is going, I've had enough of his "God" complex as a doctor on this show and besides, Christina can do better!

i am not a rabid fan of the show, but i am a huge fan of teh hunks justin chambers and eric danes :p.  i will say that  washington's character was my least favorite (close second was kate walsh) and that decision was made before all the hoopla.  i won't miss him.

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it is nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice.

Well, I'm sorry, but Washington is stupid - what was that saying the word again in a later interview - to hurt Knight again, as someone else surmises?  Who does he think he is?

I'm in Chicago and we have a terrible terrible problem here; we have a Black Baptist/evangelical population with a sizeable number of the preachers teaching intolerance of gays.  If I had a dime for every time I've heard, "Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve" - it's their little catchphrase.

Some blacks totally reject gayness and are quite vocal about it, really self righteous - it is so shocking and saddening to see Blacks engaging in this kind of behavior, when not too long ago if Blacks walked into certain stores or restaurants or offices there would be a gasp of shock and a very quick ejection.  Why would they subject other human beings to this *hit that they had to put up with for so long?  It doesn't make sense to me.

There is this Black  politician, the Reverend James Meeks, who runs this huge church on the south side, the Salem Baptist Church.  This guy is simply straining to gain office; well, he has a contingent of the black vote (certainly not all of it - many Blacks here have the common sense and the love of humanity not to hate gays) I think he's going to try and run for governor again.  He does some good things for the black NON-GAY community and I just fear seeing him get any kind of office and power to hurt and further isolate gays, espicially in the black community.  My dream is the whole city gets together and the next time he runs for office we drum him out of town!

Here if you live in one of the white monied gay enclaves, like Andersonville, if someone bashes you or a storekeeper refuses to serve you or something you'll have 500 people on the street 3 hours later picketing the place.  I'm not saying it's a paradise for white male gays here but it's a far healthier environment than many places.  But if you are black, living on the low income black side of the city and you are being persecuted because you are fey or are trying to live your life as a free man and are being picked on and beaten up by hostile youths AND your community won't come to your aid because you are gay and your damned politicians won't help you either - can you imagine the nightmare?

Sorry to go on like this, but I'm betting Isaiah comes from this kind of church, this kind of background, and thankfully, he tried to take it to a place where it just wasn't tolerated - how wonderful!  I'm glad he got canned - I hope it sent a message out to the world.  We have to send a message of zero tolerance of this kind of *hit - we are going to lay the devil down.

Ok,

I felt it necessary to create an account just so I could post on this issue. The best way I know how to start is by saying this:

When the concept of social justice and equality is reduced to popular appeal and cultural shifts, then we are living in phony times.

My opinion of IW before all of this drama was that he was an intriguing, regal dramatic actor who understood and respected the craft deeply. That opinion has not changed. Whether he is "arrogant" "rude" or even "ignorant" is of no concern to me as an audience member.

When the buzz around the Oct. 9th incident started up, I was both confused and disappointed by the allegations. But I was equally confused and dissappointed that the incident was being spun into a tabloid story when it seemed that the the show and the network just wanted to continue doing the work that it was doing.

Since then, there have been some clear missteps on behalf of IW, but also on behalf of ABC, T.R. Knight's camp, and **the public at large**.

Mostly, I'm upset that we as a community have participated in such a ridiculous media circus that, in the end, hasn't done much to solidify any sort of legitamate progress, healing, or even mere tolerance.

Like most everyone else, I don't have all of the "facts" on this incident. But in context of what I have read, I don't believe that this termination has meant much of anything beyond a network making a business decision, therefore it's useless to project meaning onto it in terms of some sort of "statement" on tolerance. In the meantime, a perhaps too temperamental human being naively allowed himself to be stringed along by a system that ultimately saw him as a tool.

Please spare me the "what if" hypothetical scenarios. Any and every incident of alleged bigotry must be dealt with individually. Further, I really hope no one on here is vacant enough to try to compare this to the Imess saga. Two completely different incidents, two completely different circumstances under which terminations took place.

It may do us all some good to assess what IW has to say in the wake of all of this:

jason

I enjoyed his acting, but I doubt the T.R.Knight controversy is the only reason he was let go. Their had to be other reasons, besides, I find it funny not a single co-star other than Kate Walsh's "It's Sad", has come out in his defense.