sosgemini said:

I may not have seen the whole thing but he didn't seem prompted to say anything - it looked (to me) like Shondra (the producer) was @ the mic asnwering questions & he just kinda popped in & said this. But I only saw edited reports, I could be missing a piece of the story. Even if he was asked it's silly of him to have repeated the very slur that caused the controversy...

The original f-word incident happened while they were filming episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and he apparently said the f-word while making a comment about T.R. Knight to castmate Patrick Dempsey. This led to a scuffle which was widely reported in the media. At the time T.R. Knight had not openly declared that he was gay, but he later came out of the closet during an appearance on "The Ellen Degeneres Show." At any rate, Isaiah Washington apologized to T.R. Knight and the incident appeared to be over. However, during the Golden Globe Awards, when the cast and executive producer answered questions backstage after winning an award for Best Television Drama, a reporter asked a question about the incident, at which point Isaiah went to the microphone and uttered the f-word again. It was this incident which snowballed into a huge controversy, leading people to call for his firing. He later went to "rehab" for this incident and appeared in public service spots supporting gay people.

As for being fired from the show, what technically happened was that his contract was up for renewal, and ABC declined to pick up his option for the show. The network probably considered firing him earlier in the season but realized that they would have plot issues, since he was an integral character on the show, and they would have had to come up with a freaky scenario to explain his absence. But realizing that his contract was up at the end of the season, this gave them time to resolve his character plotline. As for any legal action Isaiah may or may not take, he doesn't have much ground to stand on in this case, since his contract had expired and ABC held the options for future episodes.


[Edited 6/9/07 7:16am]

The original f-word incident happened while they were filming episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and he apparently said the f-word while making a comment about T.R. Knight to castmate Patrick Dempsey. This led to a scuffle which was widely reported in the media. At the time T.R. Knight had not openly declared that he was gay, but he later came out of the closet during an appearance on "The Ellen Degeneres Show." At any rate, Isaiah Washington apologized to T.R. Knight and the incident appeared to be over. However, during the Golden Globe Awards, when the cast and executive producer answered questions backstage after winning an award for Best Television Drama, a reporter asked a question about the incident, at which point Isaiah went to the microphone and uttered the f-word again. It was this incident which snowballed into a huge controversy, leading people to call for his firing. He later went to "rehab" for this incident and appeared in public service spots supporting gay people.

As for being fired from the show, what technically happened was that his contract was up for renewal, and ABC declined to pick up his option for the show. The network probably considered firing him earlier in the season but realized that they would have plot issues, since he was an integral character on the show, and they would have had to come up with a freaky scenario to explain his absence. But realizing that his contract was up at the end of the season, this gave them time to resolve his character plotline. As for any legal action Isaiah may or may not take, he doesn't have much ground to stand on in this case, since his contract had expired and ABC held the options for future episodes.


[Edited 6/9/07 7:16am]

Thanks for the recap. He actually came out before his appearance on The Ellen Degeneres Show.

The original f-word incident happened while they were filming episodes of Grey's Anatomy, and he apparently said the f-word while making a comment about T.R. Knight to castmate Patrick Dempsey. This led to a scuffle which was widely reported in the media. At the time T.R. Knight had not openly declared that he was gay, but he later came out of the closet during an appearance on "The Ellen Degeneres Show." At any rate, Isaiah Washington apologized to T.R. Knight and the incident appeared to be over. However, during the Golden Globe Awards, when the cast and executive producer answered questions backstage after winning an award for Best Television Drama, a reporter asked a question about the incident, at which point Isaiah went to the microphone and uttered the f-word again. It was this incident which snowballed into a huge controversy, leading people to call for his firing. He later went to "rehab" for this incident and appeared in public service spots supporting gay people.

As for being fired from the show, what technically happened was that his contract was up for renewal, and ABC declined to pick up his option for the show. The network probably considered firing him earlier in the season but realized that they would have plot issues, since he was an integral character on the show, and they would have had to come up with a freaky scenario to explain his absence. But realizing that his contract was up at the end of the season, this gave them time to resolve his character plotline. As for any legal action Isaiah may or may not take, he doesn't have much ground to stand on in this case, since his contract had expired and ABC held the options for future episodes.


[Edited 6/9/07 7:16am]

vainandy said:

Is this applying that it's impossible for people to change or repent from their simple/dumb mistakes?!?

EDIT: A thread in itself.

CalhounSq said:

his answer was in response to a reporter's question.

TonyVanDam said:

Or maybe they were just sick of him - he's a fucking actor, MAYBE he was dramatic & irritating a lot of the time & folks had their fill (in addition to creating this mess)... I think it shows that if you value your cush job, don't make a bunch of unneccessary waves. They opted not to renew his contract - there was nothing to terminate. Maybe I'm not getting it but I don't see this as him being "fired"...

So he said faggot during an argument, later apologized and months later he's fired.

Whatever!

lazycrockett said:

an employer can fire for various reasons...calling a group of young women nappyheaded hoes or another person the "f" word.

If you were on your job and called another employee, a client, or customer either one of those names, you too maybe fired.


Life lesson for him. I'm with you Cal, that brother is fine but what an idiot. Hell, I would watch Love Jones just for him.

I personally think the right to say whatever you want is more valuable than the idea that everyone has the right to live in a free society without being offended.

And I don't think celebrities are such wonderful people that when they're assholes they should have to apologize the entire world for it. So what if he did call somebody whatever? I don't know him personally and don't pretend to. I'm gay, but maybe in the same situation I'd have called the guy a fag, too. And if I apologized to anyone, it would have been to THAT guy, not to the whole friggin' world.

God help me on the day I get offended because of something some dumbfuck actor says. Or demand an apology for something that wasn't even said to or about me. It's better than holding people publicly responsible for private converstations. You have to be a little thicker skinned than that to live in a free society.

PANDURITO said:

Well, seeing as the incident happened on the job, and assuming the same rules apply to a TV set as they would every other workplace, I'm surprised as hell he wasn't fired sooner.

The point is not that he said it, the point is that he said it to a co-worker while he was at work. Could any of us do the same without, if not being fired, reprimanded in some way? No. And neither should he.

meow85 said:

If it happened like I understood, I can assure you he wouldn't be fired here. (You don't fire someone for being bad mannered)

1) He's talking to another actor about TR being late and refers to him as that faggot.
Wrong! But if anything I'd have told him so "Hey, will you please not call him that?"

2) Months later some journalists ask about it.
"No, I didn't call TR a faggot"
And everybody goes "He's said it again!"

What are we? Kids?
Miss teacher, miss teacher, Isaiah said poo and fart Twice!!!!

meow85 said:

If it happened like I understood, I can assure you he wouldn't be fired here. (You don't fire someone for being bad mannered)

1) He's talking to another actor about TR being late and refers to him as that faggot.
Wrong! But if anything I'd have told him so "Hey, will you please not call him that?"

2) Months later some journalists ask about it.
"No, I didn't call TR a faggot"
And everybody goes "He's said it again!"

What are we? Kids?
Miss teacher, miss teacher, Isaiah said poo and fart Twice!!!!

meow85 said:

If it happened like I understood, I can assure you he wouldn't be fired here. (You don't fire someone for being bad mannered)

1) He's talking to another actor about TR being late and refers to him as that faggot.
Wrong! But if anything I'd have told him so "Hey, will you please not call him that?"

2) Months later some journalists ask about it.
"No, I didn't call TR a faggot"
And everybody goes "He's said it again!"

What are we? Kids?
Miss teacher, miss teacher, Isaiah said poo and fart Twice!!!!

PANDURITO said:

Like I said on the previous page, Isaiah pick a bad time to be ghetto.

I thought he was going to that spin off show?

Paradisekiss03 said:

No, the Addison character has the spinoff. There was never plans for him to turn up elsewhere...

CalhounSq said:

Which looks promising, though I'm going to be watching if for Amy(Judging Amy) cause i dig her. The problem with the 2 hour episode was it was so obviously sliced together with the Grey's Anatomy. Both episodes suffered cause of really bad editing.