Gray's Anatomy Star Told to Enter Rehab over Anti Gay Slur

[mondo joe]

http://lifeandstylemag.hollywood.com/2007/01/life_style_exclusive_isaiah_wa.php

Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has entered a residential treatment facility in an effort to quell the controversy surrounding his anti-gay remarks — and save his job, Life & Style has learned exclusively.

Isaiah, who plays Dr. Preston Burke on the show, became embroiled in controversy for making a homophobic remark about Grey’s castmate T.R. Knight during an on-set argument last fall. (T.R., 33, publicly announced that he is gay after the incident.) The controversy reignited after the Jan. 15 Golden Globe Awards, at which Isaiah denied ever making the comment — but used the anti-gay slur in his denial.

“ABC has told him he must enter a program to examine why he would say such hateful words,” the insider says.

Isaiah issued his apology the next day, saying, “I can neither defend nor explain my behavior. I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I’ve asked for help.”

[AndyA]

1. Bigotry and discrimination are ugly, no matter who they come from.

Black, white, gay, straight, male, female. It doesn't matter. It's just wrong.

[iconoclastic cat]

2. Am I the only one dubious of the idea that hate can be "treated"? nt

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. No.

He's just trying to save his job.

[racaulk]

11. Aw come on now! Apparently Mel Gibson thinks it will work!

:eyes:

[alarimer]

23. No.

It sounds like he wants to save his job, which isn't all that great a motivation for change.

[TheDebbieDee]

30. This guy has anger management issues............

I saw a segment on one show last week, like Access Hollywood or something, that this actor has assaulted co-workers, directors and co-stars on the sets of other shows in the past.

Sounds like he's way overdue for serious help of some kind, but he may be just going through the motions to keep his job, for now!

[wiley]

32. I can't say yes anymore since someone else said no

But even if he just stops trying to defend himself for a minute and looks at what got him to this point in the first place, maybe he won't be so stupid again. IW had a tantrum. He abused a working, group environment to go off on someone who he may not have liked or didn't know how to deal with. The show employs people who have families and personal needs like paying rent, etc. that might be just a little more important than IW's burning urgent need to call a co-worker a derogatory name over and over again.

Was he frustrated by something? Has gay bashing become the acceptable form of release now that more people look down on smacking the nearest woman upside the head? Does he just not like gay men, or maybe white gay men, or maybe gay men from a certain area of the world? Does the world even have to think about whether IW is fucked up in the head or not about gays? No. He needs to think about it, though. Humans may be born gay but no one is born perfect or free from society's influence.

Getting to the root of why he did what he did just may help him see that he's a victim of his own stupidity, or someone else's. Either way, that can be treated.

[Imagine My Surprise]

38. As a gay man, I would tend to somewhat agree with you.

On occasion, these "treatments" do bring a genuine, new-found enlightenment, but for the most part, it's probably like drunks forced to go to AA meetings (and I'm sober so I can talk about THAT issue, too.)

[Hav]

3. .

Ironic. In the show they are very good friends :shrug:.

[mondo joe]

6. Maybe they should handle it by having his character come out as gay.

:-)

[originalpckelly]

12. Now that's poetic justice!

:rofl:

I'd love to see him have to try and understand a gay person's perspective! That'd be the best treatment.

[racaulk]

13. Great idea!!!

Force him to step into the shoes of those he hates, just to save his job! That would be sweet! :)

[Behind the Aegis]

19. Actually, that thought has been bantered about. LOL! n/t

[Hav]

26. .

Lol, in that case, I guess the next headline will be:

"Washington quits show after love scene with T.R. Knight"

[AlCzervik]

5. Rehab can cure you of being an asshole, who knew?

[Betty]

31. send dick cheney

he'll need many years of treatment.

[joeunderdog]

33. The first step is admitting you're an asshole.

[peace13]

7. Give me a break!

Let him do some community service or something useful. Egocentric people say stupid things! This rehab thing has gone too far! What's next rehab for nose pickers,or maybe for people that don't use their blinkers.

[Katherine Brengle]

27. Agreed.

[originalpckelly]

8. So will this rehab reach into his mind and make him think and feel differently...

or will it just teach him to keep the way he feels inside better?

[no_hypocrisy]

9. Bigotry and psychiatric/psychological issues are not always synonymous.

My cousin is living proof of that . . . . He's a jerk, but that's about it.

[Marie26]

10. Sometimes,

people are just jerks. Rehab? For what?

[verse18]

14. I thought this was satire

a la Foley and Haggard. I wonder if the treatment includes laying on of hands.

[judaspriestess]

15. so this is the new cop-out?

say or do something effed up and you skip into rehab, its that easy? snap!

ridiculous

[President Jesus]

16. and we wonder why the world thinks we're "soft"

If the network doesn't like his behavior, they should fire him. But sending him to some bullshit "rehab" as if that's the answer to everything is just embarrassing to our culture.

[Kindigger]

20. He ain't all that

and the show would go on just fine without him.

[gatorboy]

17. I might get mauled for this, but.....

How come there was so much of an uproar over this?

I mean, for the past 6 years, The Right has been stuffing "Gay People Are Evil" down the throat of America. Banning Marriage, banning gay couples from adopting..Virtually condemning gay folks as second class citizens. And yet I didn't see a major uproar in the gay community over this (Or if there was one, no one reported it).

On the other hand, some bigot actor who stars on a popular TV show, says something and his comment seems to have taken the gay community by storm.

[mondo joe]

25. Because Hollywood knows where its bread is buttered. And so does The Right.

They're both trying to please the base.

[midnight]

34. No, think you have a fair question. Why isn't the outcry like this

new treatment plan that is being recommended for this black actor, being recommend for all those white religious folks.

[mondo joe]

36. Simple answer: who's the boss?

As I said just above, both the entertainment industry and the far right are trying to play totheir respectives bases.

[Plaid Adder]

18. *Rehab?*

I could see sensitivity training, but normally that sort of thing can be done on an outpatient basis. I can't imagine that Washington really needs to be sequestered in a special homophobe treatment facility in order to make some progress with these "issues."

I mean, being gay myself, it's nice to see it taken seriously, but dang. *Rehab?* Unless he's got something else going on that this is a symptom of, it seems like overkill to me. Unless he's just hiding from the reporters.

C ya,

The Plaid Adder

[Hav]

24. .

It's just the trendy new thing. You mess up, you go into Rehab, whatever that means.
Probably only to get the media off your backs. No more bad publicity so that that it doesn't have any negative impact on the show. Because that is the only thing that matters.

I like the show and I like his character, but to use "rehab" in this context is the easy way out for cowards and just not sincere.

[Kerrytravelers]

21. So, was Washington drinking the same alcohol that gibson was?

I really want to know what kind that is so I don't grab a bottle! I don't want to catch "The Bigot", much like one catches The Gay, you know.

:rofl:

[mondo joe]

29. So, Michael Richards, Mel Gibson and Isaiah Washington walk into a bar...

I don't know the punchline.

[Kerrytravelers]

37. Bwwwwaaaaahhhhh !!!!!!!! **snort**

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[WinkyDink]

22. Rehab? For attitude?! Is this center run by old USSR guys?

[Little Wing]

28. If being gay is a choice, homophobia is a choice

[SanCristobal]

35. What did he say?

[dsc]

39. A synopsis

In October, Washington and Dempsey were having an arguement when Washington said "I'm not your faggot like TR". The quote, minus TR, got reported and the next day TR outed himself to People. Then on Jan 15 at the Golden Globes Washington said "I never called TR a faggot, I never used that word". On Jan 16 TR went on Ellen and said Washington had indeed said it. Washington has since released a statement saying that he was sorry for having said it.