I can’t believe he went there. As most Grey’s Anatomy fans know by now, Isaiah Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke for three seasons, was fired from the show at the beginning of June. Well, technically he wasn’t even fired; his contract just wasn’t renewed. Most people thought this was a result of the anti-gay slurs Washington directed towards co-star T.R. Knight (Dr. George O’Malley), but Washington has come right out and said that wasn’t the case.
About a week ago he released a statement saying he’s not going to take being fired (or let go) without giving his side of the story. He then went on to blame Knight and co-star Katherine Heigl for teaming up against him.
And today, I just read an article where Washington says the real reason he was fired is that he’s a black man who doesn’t speak like he “just left the plantation.”
Well, this really makes no sense to me and leads me to believe that Washington is coming completely unhinged over this whole situation. First of all, Grey’s Anatomy is known as one of the most diverse shows on TV because their main cast featured the likes of Sandra Oh, James Pickens, Chandra Wilson, and Sara Ramirez in addition to Washington (when he was on). Plus, executive producer Shonda Rhimes is black, so from an outsider’s perspective it hardly seems like a racism charge is accurate here…