"Grey's Anatomy" Honchos Counter-Attack

If they call you a homophobe, respond by calling them a racist. At least that is the message coming from the set of "Grey's Anatomy".

It has now been over two weeks since Isaiah Washington (Preston) apologized for the incident that rocked the set of TV's hottest medical drama. Choking Patrick Dempsey (Derek) and calling T.R. Knight (George) a "faggot" did not surprise those familiar with Isaiah Washington's history of aggressive behaviour.


Despite his apology, 60% of US Weekly readers who took part in a poll whether or not Isaiah should be fired answered yes. And they are not alone. But, the drama's showrunners unhappy that the incident got leaked to the press in the first place, responded by shrugging the incident off.

In fact, insiders say that Isaiah Washington is very close to "Grey's Anatomy" head writer and showrunner Shonda Rhymes and "she would never fire him".

Furthermore, the producers responded counter-attacking commentators who suggested that Isaiah might be replaced with Eriq La Salle (ER), deeming the idea that an African American actor be necessarily replaced with another African American actor racist.

Since then, Kate Walsh (Addison) and Katherine Heigl (Izzy) have gone on daytime television to laugh off the entire incident.

Patrick Dempsey, whose rep claims the actor has moved past the incident (there is no indication yet what T.R. Knight thinks about being called names), seems to be 'really upset by all this and wants the attention to go away" according to an insider.

And the cast is doing just that. Isaiah Washington and Kate Walsh were all smiles yesterday in Beverly Hills as they announced People's Choice Awards nominees for Best Drama and celebrated after they read off their show as one of the nominees.

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