ISAIAH WASHINGTON IS STILL VENTING: Actor tells Newsweek his ‘rehab’ was ‘just some crap’ promoted by ABC. Email to a friend | Print Friendly *Now that the bridges have been burned between Isaiah Washington and his former employer, ABC, the actor has no qualms about voicing his opinion regarding the aftermath of his gay slur drama. Last week, Washington told the Houston Chronicle that his former “Grey’s Anatomy” co-star, T.
R. Knight, was milking his victim status once news broke that he used the gay slur during an on-set fight with Patrick Dempsey. In the new issue of Newsweek, Washington focuses his ire on the so-called rehab treatment he attended at the behest of ABC.
"There is no rehab for homophobia – that was just some crap being put out by the network," the 43-year-old told Newsweek. "I went into an executive counseling program which many people in this industry know about and go to. They knew what the program was but chose to call it what they wanted to fit their agenda.
And more importantly, I volunteered for it because I wanted to understand my fight with Patrick and how it got out of hand like that." Washington said he even footed half the bill for his treatment, and added: "I thought [ABC] sending me meant they actually wanted me to succeed and come out on the other end." Washington also suggested that race played a role in the immediate aftermath of his fight with Dempsey, as well as the backlash leading to his dismissal.
During his fight with Dempsey, he said: "Someone heard the booming voice of a black man and got really scared and that was the beginning of the end for me." Washington continued: "I apologized and showed my remorse for what I said and for the pain I caused anyone. If a black man can't get forgiveness in this country, when so many other people like Robert Downey Jr.
and the governor of California get second and third chances ...
I think that says a lot about race and this country where we stand." Later in the article, he says: "It didn't help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn't a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. … I had a person in human resources tell me after this thing played out that 'some people' were afraid of me around the studio.
I asked her why, because I'm a 6'1" black man with dark skin and who doesn't go around saying 'Yessah, massa sir' and 'No sir, massa' to everyone?' Newsweek pointed out Washington’s track record as an on-set rabble-rouser, and mentions the blow-up several years ago with his “Soul Food” producer Tracey Edmonds. "I have a mind of my own and I do speak it when I feel it's right," Washington explains.
"In this business that's considered being difficult and hard to deal with." Those long boring commutes to school or work can now be a thing of the past. mobileEURweb.
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