Isaiah Washington fired from 'Grey's Anatomy'

I'm not a regular watcher of the ABC drama 'Grey's Anatomy.' But I got acquainted with the show last fall when the controversy involving actor Isaiah Washington blew up into the open.

Washington got into a physical altercation on the set with show star Patrick Dempsey in which Washington apparently uttered the words, "I'm not your little faggot like T.R."

'T.R.' was of course Washington's co-star on the show, T.R. Knight.

T.R. Knight, an affable and attractive actor, who seems like a very nice guy as far as I can tell, felt compelled to come out of the closet publicly as a result of the incident. "I hope the fact that I'm gay isn't the most interesting part of me," Knight said at the time.

Washington faced no reprimand for the altercation. Months later, backstage at the Golden Globes, he uttered the homophobic slur again in response to a question on the incident. In front of his co-stars including Knight and the international media, Washington waltzed up to the microphone in response to a question on the backstage fight and said he never called T.R. a 'faggot.'

To deny he used the slur, he used the slur.

A huge public backlash ensued. Calls for Washington to be fired from the show got very loud. Washington went into major damage control mode. He apologized profusely. He even went to some kind of rehab program.

I don't know about you, but I've never heard of any kind of anti-homophobia re-hab program. Washington's frantic response was impressive, but unconvincing.

If a co-worker of mine had gotten into a violent confrontation in my workplace and uttered "I'm not your little faggot like Matt," I can attest that the workplace would have been sufficiently poisoned so that continuing to work professionally would be greatly challenged.

Washington's actions no doubt poisoned the workplace environment for T.R. as well as the rest of his castmates. He simply had to go.

Today, ABC made it official. Isaiah Washington won't be returning to the show next season.

His statement sent out today through his publicist seems to confirm the man's strangely irrational mindset (which got him into this mess in the first place) is still anything but cured.

"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore," is all Washington has to say with regard to his departure from the show.

He's not going to take it anymore? What does that mean? I don't know about you, but this statement conjures up images of Washington returning to the Grey's set in the near future with a machine gun. I certainly hope not, of course.