CalhounSq said:

The show works best when its stays more in the realm of comedy. I'm all for touches of drama and death, i get it they work in a hospital, but this season was just too angst filled and really for no good payoff. Plus the music this season has sucked.

The first seasons stuff was fucking amesome.

lazycrockett said:

AGREED! This season has been less fun than the first 2

He'll get another job.

meow85 said:

actually, most business issue disciplinary action and it most cases its NOT termination when its the first offense...i used to work HR...

Anxiety said:

clearly, you don't get the gist of this messageboard.

lazycrockett said:

If a brotha (or any man in general) is hanging out with the fellas during afternoon happy-hours at a sport bar & grill, that's a good time, IMO.

But at his day-job where he's suppose to be a mature professional businessman? No.























Satire people!!! Don't sue me!!!
[Edited 6/11/07 15:43pm]

The WORLD is a ghetto.

sosgemini said:

That sort of thing's taken really seriously at my work. There are no "three strikes you're out" clauses. It's watch your mouth or you're out. Toys R Us doesn't fool around with that shit, even if you've worked your way into a management or other supposedly non-expendable position. Apparently they're just as strict in the corporate aspect of the business as they are in the retail end, too.

meow85 said:

my statements are based on my training with SBC. look at it this way:

1) its cost more money to train a new employee then it does to "educate" an existing one.

2) you want to give an employee the opportunity to learn from their mistakes.

3) you want to buffer yourselves from being used as an act of retaliation. wrongful termination is just as much of a financial threat as not responding to a case of harassment.

the key here is to document document document.

add it all up and major companies will give their employees an opportunity to prove they are not going to be repeat offenders...especially for something like name calling.

in washington's case maybe ABC felt that he was representing their company at the Golden Globes thus officially working and proving himself a repeat offender...maybe they just didn't want to deal with the media attention (which was taking attention away from the show itself) so they decided not to renew their contract...or maybe they did feel the first offense was enough to warrant an end of their relationship...we will never know...

however, from my personal experience...and someone who worked in HR...i wouldnt not terminate an employee based on washington's actions...but then i don't work the entertainment industry.





---im rambling, huh? tired and bored i guess.

I think they might have fucked up their ratings. The writers better come correct next season, granted I've never watched the show.

It's a pitty, Dr Burke was one of the 2 reasons I was watching the show.

ABC's dumping of Isaiah Washington calculated

Starring on one of TV's hottest series is an actor's dream, and Isaiah Washington fought hard to keep his role as Dr. Preston Burke on Grey's Anatomy.

But after twice using an antigay slur, Washington was doomed to lose the biggest role of his career because of timing, a track record of volatile behavior. and pressure within the industry. While series creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes wept when she phoned last Thursday to tell Washington he was out, the decision was a coolly calculated move by Rhimes's bosses at the network and ABC Television Studios. His ''pattern of behavior'' represented a potential liability that was too much risk for the Walt Disney Co.–owned companies, a source close to the production said. The source was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The operation to remove Washington, 43, was quick and neat. The studio declined to exercise his contract option for another season—Washington would have earned about $2.7 million in salary—and he was dumped shortly after the May finale.

With Dr. Burke conveniently written out of the show in the last episode, the move had to have been planned for some time. The decision was made by executives including ABC Studios president Mark Pedowitz, ABC Entertainment president Stephen McPherson, and Disney–ABC Television Group president Anne Sweeney. ABC and the studio declined comment this week, but Washington said he was ''saddened'' by the outcome. ''I can only apologize so many times. I can only accept so much responsibility,'' he told EW.com in an interview published Wednesday. ''Isaiah will go on and do what I love to do. And I have to go about the business of letting people know what's written about me is not the truth.''

Gay rights leader Neil G. Giuliano said Washington was caught up in changing attitudes toward antigay vitriol, the same backlash felt by Ann Coulter after she derided John Edwards with the same f word Washington employed.

''All of this is crescendo-ing, with people saying, 'Enough is enough,' '' said Giuliano, president of the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation.

Hollywood's image as an unbiased haven for gays is overstated, Giuliano said. But he did field outraged calls from producers, writers, and actors, both gay and straight, after Washington's remarks. Giuliano said he told the callers to make waves at the networks, and ''I have good reason to believe most of those folks, who are not shy, made their feelings known.''

One black gay activist sees the lobbying far differently. Jasmyne Cannick, a friend of Washington's, said the case reflected a division between Hollywood's powerful white gays and lesbians and those who are minorities. ''The ones calling for [Washington's] head are what I refer to as the gay mafia,'' Cannick said.

There may have been more behind the decision than intolerant language. Bryan Birge, who was working as a costumer in 1997 on the police drama High Incident, said Washington erupted in anger on the set and then grabbed him after Birge asked him to remove a magazine from his pocket for an upcoming scene.

''It was bizarre,'' Birge told the Associated Press. ''The guy is less than easy to be around.''

Washington, a Houston native who served in the Air Force, had campaigned vigorously to redeem his image. He apologized publicly, to his colleagues, and to GLAAD. He filmed a public service announcement for GLAAD and the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network. He made a publicly announced donation to a favorite cause, help for the African nation of Sierra Leone.

''We did everything that was asked of us'' by ABC, said his publicist, Howard Bragman.

Washington was undone by a spat last October with costar Patrick Dempsey in which he used the epithet to refer to fellow cast member T.R. Knight. Washington issued a public apology for his behavior and ''unfortunate'' use of words, and media attention waned.But in January, Washington reignited the furor during a backstage interview at the Golden Globes in which he denied having used the slur, then uttered it again. Gay rights groups that had demanded Washington apologize say they didn't seek his firing and gained nothing by it. Those who might have jumped to his defense, whether costars or those taking interest in the plight of a black actor, were silent or measured in their remarks.

''If he's being let go because of that incident, I'm not sure the punishment fits the crime,'' said Vic Bullock, executive director of the Hollywood bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. The NAACP has asked ABC for ''further clarity,'' Bullock said.

Tavis Smiley, the national TV and radio talk show host and author, said Washington's words cut too deep. ''As a society we are still grappling with the notion of forgiveness and redemption,'' Smiley said in an e-mailed comment. ''What this incident shows us, not unlike the Don Imus matter, is there is some pain so deep, that an apology, no matter how sincere, just doesn't suffice.” (AP)

http://www.advocate.com/n...d46244.asp

Heres The Latest on Isaiah and his rantings.

http://www.chron.com/disp...07210.html


"They fired the wrong guy," Isaiah Washington said today.

The former Dr. Preston Burke on ABC's hit series Grey's Anatomy told the Houston Chronicle that T.R. Knight should have been fired from the show.

Washington was let go on June 7, just a month before filming for the new season was to begin. He has been slammed with negative publicity since October. That's when he allegedly used an anti-gay slur during an on-set disagreement with co-star Patrick Dempsey.

The Houston native's interviews with the media since then have been limited.

"I have to clear my name," a determined Washington told the Houston Chronicle in a telephone interview from the set of his new movie, The Least of These. "I'll start from the beginning. I'm telling everything. So here's the truth."

Washington said Knight, who plays Dr. George O'Malley, stirred up the notion that the slur was targeted at him and created a negative work environment. Washington also alleged that Knight likely wanted a salary increase and a more substantive role for his character.

Knight, who acknowledged that he was gay after the incident, told Ellen DeGeneres in January that Washington used the slur against him and that "everyone (on the set) heard it."

"That's a lie," Washington said. "I used the word during a disagreement with Patrick. I apologized for that. We shook hands and went back to work."

He said he is considering a lawsuit. "My livelihood, my honor and dignity and my name have been so challenged."

Washington said his firing was a big disappointment.

"I was not fired for making homophobic slurs," he said. "I did everything I said I would do. I offered to go to counseling, to do a public service announcement. I wanted everyone to know I was remorseful."

Washington said he asked to be released from his contract last fall after the first incident, then again in January when he repeated the slur at the Golden Globes. His use of the word at the awards ceremony was taken out of context, he said. He was responding to a reporter's question about whether he had used the slur.

He said he regrets that his actions overshadowed Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes' win for best TV series drama.

Washington learned ABC would not renew his contract in a tearful call from Rhimes.

"That was a shock," he said. "I did everything they told me to do, including not saying anything, and then they didn't renew my contract. That's not fair."

ABC executives declined to comment Wednesday.

The 43-year-old Washington said this was the first negative incident in his 20 years in Hollywood.

He said he made three errors in judgment: "believing the cast of Grey's Anatomy were like family; believing I had the freedom to express myself with family and that we could resolve our issues; and trusting ABC was going to take care of me.

"I'm not angry. I'm disappointed."

joy.sewing@chron.com

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