ABC Entertainment issues statement regarding Grey's Washington
Three days after Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington's eyebrow-raising comments at the Golden Globes — where he told reporters backstage, ''No, I did not call (co-star) T.R. (Knight) a faggot'' during an on-set incident last year — ABC Entertainment has officially addressed the situation. ''We have a long-standing policy to create and maintain respectful workplaces for all our employees,'' the statement reads. ''We dealt with the original situation in October, and thought the issue resolved. Therefore, we are greatly dismayed that Mr. Washington chose to use such inappropriate language at the Golden Globes, language that he himself deemed 'unfortunate' in his previous public apology. We take this situation very seriously. His actions are unacceptable and are being addressed.''
Earlier today, the gay and lesbian advocacy group GLAAD asked Washington to apologize for his behavior: ''Washington's repeated use of (the slur) on-set and in the media is simply inexcusable,'' GLAAD president Neil Giuliano said in a statement.
didn't seem possible that anyone could've stolen Dreamgirls' thunder last night at the 64th Annual Golden Globe Awards — the musical danced away with the most movie honors of the night — but for a moment backstage in the press room, it looked as if the cast and crew of Grey's Anatomy unintentionally tried their darnedest to do so. Just as Dreamgirls producer Lawrence Mark stepped to the microphone to face the 50 or so members of the media, Grey's creator Shonda Rhimes could be heard hooting ''Seriously?!'' and Mark was all but drowned out by the entire Grey's squad's celebratory whooping in the next room.
That all came to a halt, however, once the Grey's group took their turn at the mic. The first question was about the infamous Patrick Dempsey/Isaiah Washington fight, which involved Washington reportedly using an anti-gay epithet about fellow cast member T.R. Knight; those reports subsequently prompted Knight to come out publicly. Knight tried to lighten the mood by cracking in a goofy voice, ''What fight?!'' But before Rhimes could get a word in, Washington raced to the mic and dropped this rhetorical bomb: ''No, I did not call T.R. a faggot. Never happened.'' (Well, Mr. Washington, you kinda just did.)
Knight and the rest of the cast remained stone-faced as Washington retreated back to his corner of the press-room dais and Rhimes tried her best to close the matter: ''Things were [spun] in a very odd way by the press that were not necessarily true," she said. "We are just excited we won the Golden Globe.'' The damage, however, was already done: Grey's Anatomy wins the coveted EW.com 2007 Backstage Golden Globes Award for Most Awkward Moment.
Most of the backstage action, thank goodness, was not nearly as rip
