Isaiah Passes The Buck To T.R.

Well it didn't take long for the Faggotgate story at Grey's Anatomy to take another breath of life.

Isaiah Washington hit back at the network in an interview with the Houston Chronicle. "They fired the wrong guy," the actor said. He blames T.R. Knight for stoking the scandal that led him to lose his job. Knight is the one who should have been let go, he told the newspaper. A case of blaming the victim, I suppose.

"I have to clear my name," said Washington. "I'll start from the beginning. I'm telling everything. So here's the truth."

Washington, who said he is considering a lawsuit, accused Knight of exploiting the controversy in order to get a salary increase and to enhance his role. Yes, it would seem that coming out of the closet has been such a winning strategy in contract negotiations. Washington also caused a fuss at the Golden Globe Awards, denying he'd called Knight a faggot during an on-set dustup with co-star Patrick Dempsey.

Knight, who announced soon after the fracas that he was gay, told Ellen DeGeneres that Washington used the slur against him and that "everyone (on the set) heard" him do so. "That's a lie," Washington told the Chronicle. "I used the word during a disagreement with Patrick. I apologized for that. We shook hands and went back to work." Washington was criticized by gay-rights groups, as well as by fellow cast member Katherine Heigl. Expressing contrition, he said he was seeking therapy and filmed a public-service announcement in which he said "words have power" to hurt or heal.

The truth of the event is probably somewhere in the middle. The one person who could clear up all the "he said, he said" is Patrick Dempsey and he's remained mysteriously quiet. I think it's time he came forward and told what really happened.
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