“Grey’s Anatomy” Fires Isaiah Washington
“Grey’s Anatomy” did not renew Isaiah Washington’s contract, firing him from the show. He was informed yesterday in a phone call from executive producer Shonda Rhimes that he would be leaving. The rest of the cast was told later in the day.
Isaiah Washington’s publicist later released a single statement saying:
“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”
It us unknown if the statement is meant as a joke, sarcastically, or what, but it is a reference to the 1976 film, “Network.”
Washington’s character, Dr. Burke, disappeared in the last minutes of the season finale after he left his fiancé at the alter. So his departure from the show will not be hard to explain.
The firing comes from a year of drama that started last fall when Washington and Patrick Dempsey nearly came to blows after Washington dropped the homosexual F-bomb when talking about T.R. Knight. He later lied about it and made the whole situation worse during Shonda Rhimes acceptance speech at the Golden Globes.
August 1st, 2007 at 5:18 pm
[...] I’ve posted over and over again about the whole Isaiah Washington scandal on “Grey’s Anatomy” but it seems Shonda Rhimes (the shows creator) finally broke her silence. In an interview with TV Guide she really tears into Washington: So the decision to fire Isaiah was not something that was imposed on you? Rhimes: The great thing about [ABC Studios head] Mark Pedowitz and [ABC president] Steve McPherson is they never imposed anything on me. [...]