Wednesday, January 24, 2007

"Grey's Anatomy" Bigot May Be Fired

E Online is reporting that ABC is considering firing Isaiah Washington from "Grey's Anatomy" immediately. Under the terms of his contract and corporate policy, they would be able to do so without any recourse on Washington's path -- apparently, ABC doesn't think it's good business to have actors on their hit shows insulting and berating their co-stars with bigoted comments. Surely if anyone on "Grey's Anatomy" had called Washington a derogatory term that person would have ALREADY been fired. They could apologize and make amends publicly, but would they keep their job? Nope. If ABC does fire Washington, it won't be because of any public outcry but because the people working on the show demanded it and the producers believed his continued presence would be too disruptive. Why should Knight and Dempsey and the other stars (who are far more important to the show's success than Washington) have to work with a jerk. It's a shame in one sense since Washington was portraying a positive imager for blacks on one of the biggest hits in the country. In a further attempt to make amends, Washington has entered a "treatment facility." They have rehab for dicks? Seriously, what sort of treatment facility do you enter when you're a bigot?

4 comments:

Michael in New York said...

Wait,now I know. The Simon Wiesenthal Treatment Center. Or the Mel Gibson Racist Retreat. Or the Kramer Kamp for Idiots.

Anonymous said...

How about the John Rocker School for Foreigners?

Sounds like Washington is bending over backwards to save his job -- I feel like if ABC was going to fire him they would have done it by now. Safe to say they'll take a zero tolerance stance with him in the future, but I'll be very surprised if he's cut from the show at this point. But clearly this story has legs as evidenced by the fact that it...just...won't...die.

Anonymous said...

So predictable..the apology...the meeting with activists...the "treatment" facility. This has become the template for a-holes. But I actually think he may keep the gig. If they were serious he would have been bounced, like, last Wednesday.

Michael in New York said...

Anonymous, on further reflection, I think you're right that ABC is lookikng to salvage this without having to remove a major character from their hottest show. That's been their goal all along until he screwed it up.