Isaiah Washington
I watched and listened to the actor Isaiah Washington last night on “Larry King”. This was his chance to explain the tempest over his alleged remarks, which boiled over and eventually, ended with the star actor’s termination from ABC-TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy”.
The way he explained it, the argument was between Patrick Dempsey and Mr. Washington and concerned Mr. Dempsey’s lateness on the set and inconsideration to the other cast members. “Fag” or “faggot” or whatever was thrown around and other obscene words were used as the two men fought.
Ridiculously, Larry King (as if it were still 1955) said he never ever used the word “fag”. Maybe “sissy” but not “fag”. I doubt there is a single person on the planet Earth who hasn’t used the word “fag”. It’s the standard way that men put each other down. If somebody is drunk in a bar and is about to throw a punch, they usually preface it with, “You fuckin’ fag, I’m going to beat the fuckin’ shit out of you….” Or something like that.
Washington, whether he was truthful or not, certainly convinced me that he had not intended to insult real life fag and blandly serviceable actor, TR Knight. But Knight, perhaps, seeing a way to elevate his own droopy stature, and kick off a highly talented fellow actor, used the classic victimization tactic as a way of empowering himself. Just as some African-Americans are quick to use race as a way of gaining power, so do some gays use an ersatz ethnicity of gayness as a power maneuver.
My own impression of Washington is of a man who has rich talent, depth, knowledge and the ability to know how use his voice and body to convey emotion. He was guarded last night, but the moments where he seemed ready to break down were not phony or surface. Only a few nights earlier, the empty vessel of Paris Hilton, beloved by the entire Hollywood establishment, said nothing for one hour. One minute with Washington was, unlike Paris, ennobling.
The more frightening aspect of the “Grey’s Anatomy” anti-gay slur controversy, concerns the censorship machine and legal colossus of the Walt Disney Company. They alone, like Sadaam, will determine what type of speech is appropriate for their employees and under what circumstances. Mr. Washington was on the job, not on the air, and yet his employer treated his accidental and regretted remarks as high crimes. His career was cut short; he suffered shame and humiliation and now will lose many thousands, if not millions of dollars, in income. In years to come, he will be labeled with a prejudice he doesn’t really countenance.
Political correctness, when practiced by a trillion dollar international conglomerate, against one lone human being, is like stopping a shoplifter in Ralph’s by dropping an atom bomb on Los Angeles. Disney, when it is not attacking, is perhaps the world’s biggest moral coward, unable to stand up for one minority individual, even as it falsely and pretentiously carries the banner for collective minority rights. Profits, not principals, are the driving force here. Advertisers might back out! Neutrogena might pull their eye cream spots from “Grey’s Anatomy”! Quel horreur!
I like and admire Isaiah Washington. He doesn’t need to “come clean” about anything because free speech and freedom of thought are why we live in the United States.
Here in Van Nuys 
I often agree with you, Andrew, but not this time. Washington did more that utter the “f word.” He lied when he subsequently denied uttering it and then said it again at an awards ceremony. The man has issues, not the least of which is painting himself as a victim and blaming his employers and society for everything. If you look past his Larry King PR campaign, you’ll see a man with a lot of personal issues, none of which he accepts as his own. I think his firing was well deserved.
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For the most part I agree with you. I only caught the first part of the interview while on a treadmill, but given Larry King’s interviewing method, I’m sure I didn’t miss much. However, I’d give TR Knight the benefit of the doubt as to his motives, if he had any. Washington strikes me as a hothead who speaks his mind. His big mistake was in not shutting up at the Golden Globes and repeating the word “fag” again in front of all those reporters even if it’s in response to a question. But I guess that’s not in his nature. This was clearly just an argument taken out of context and the word was uttered with no real malice towards homosexuals.
As an Asian gay man, I’ve oftend questioned myself why I don’t get riled up enough by the careless use of those terms even if they weren’t meant to be malicious. I guess I’m just more willing to consider intent than what is implied by such reckless statements. Does that make me a bad fag?
While we’re at it, what are your thoughts on hate crime laws? Are they necessary? I think they’re almost redundant. A person should be judged and punished for harming a fellow human being. The punishment handed down should fit the severity of the crime. Simple as that. Any other considerations with regards to his beliefs is criminalizing thought. Like it or not we are free to hate–as long as no harm is done or any detriment brought to others.
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“Disney Co. and other corporate idiots do not really practice what they preach, and yet try to teach good lessons to others just to seem nice and politically correct to the general public.”
nah; i disagree w/ that…disney is, after all, marketing their product to the kids–albeit through the paretns, for it’s got to be pallatable to the folks or they’re not going to take the lil-uns there–but they are not, as you seem to insinuate, in the business of preaching, nor do they come off as morally righteous. they’re, as they say in the hood, gettin papers (read: making money). this is capitalism, my friend. and you and i both could probably learn a good lesson from disney on how to make some dough. do i condone it? well, i know i am pretty pissed off with my status on the lower end of the social strata here in van nuys. btw, as an actual van nuys resident, i must say i love this blog. keep up the excellent work, andrew.
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I fully agree with your comments. Disney Co. and other corporate idiots do not really practice what they preach, and yet try to teach good lessons to others just to seem nice and politically correct to the general public. I bet my bottom dollar that Disney does not really welcome diversity in that Burbank building…
People from where I came from call it “hypocrisy”.
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