That is right Grey’s Anatomy fans. The banished Isaiah Washington has created an opportunity out of Katherine Heigl’s snotty remark about the show’s writers. He seized the moment to call Shonda Rhimes and offered to “help.”

“Former co-star ISAIAH WASHINGTON, no stranger to controversy himself, spoke candidly about the situation. “It’s unfortunate that what is happening is happening. I understand both sides, I was there. I know exactly where everyone’s coming from. I’ve reached out and said, look, whatever I can do to help out, I’m open to it.”

[E Online]

The doctor drama has had its fair share of duels. Rhimes is the powerhouse writer for Grey’s Anatomy and (for all purposes) is the true queen of the show. After the initial war of words that sparked a feud between Washington and the cast, Isaiah was given his walking papers and written out of the show.…for the time being. Rumblings of Heigl’s desire to leave have given more fuel for the fire about a possible return of Isaiah Washington and his character Dr. Burke.

After Katherine had bitten the hand that feeds her by snubbing an Emmy nomination due to “poor material,” Isaiah called Shonda to offer an olive branch. The departure of Heigl’s character, Izzy Stevens, could translate to an open position in the cast. It was no secret that Heigl and Washington failed to get along on set. Currently she is due to go back into production for “Grey’s Anatomy” on June 25th.

Knowing her place, Kate Walsh has made nice with the issue. She told reporters that thinks the show has “amazing writers” and adds that she “loves going to work everyday. I can just see her PR rep thanking the media Gods that Kate knows how to sidestep disaster.

UGH. Is this 6th grade? I used to adore the show back when T.R. Knight looked like a hobbit. Now…you know that most of the cast sits around and argues about who is prettier.

Picture Note by JayBird: Here’s Katherine Heigl at the annual Chrysalis Butterfly Ball in Los Angeles on May 31st. Images thanks to WENN.

Talk about awkward. Former cast member Isaiah Washington joined the cast of Grey’s Anatomy on the WGA picket lines on Wednesday. Washington was fired from the show after he “reportedly” referred to gay castmate T.R. Knight as a “f*g.” According to pretty much everyone who was there and has talked about it, Washington was referring to Knight. According to Washington, he was referring to himself and/or Patrick Dempsey (depending on which of his interviews you read) in a derogatory manner. However he definitely repeated the word at the Golden Globes, leading to one of the most awkward cast interviews in history.

The WGA dubbed Wednesday “Diversity Day,” and requested that writers and actors who are gay or a minority show up on the picket line. Washington is currently on NBC’s “Bionic Woman.”

Even without a script, the cast of “Grey’s Anatomy” generated plenty of drama Wednesday when they showed up to support picketing writers outside the fabled Paramount Studios lot. Katherine Heigl, who plays Izzie Stevens, and T.R. Knight, who plays her on-screen love interest George O’Malley, were posing for pictures and giving interviews - when controversial former cast member Isaiah Washington showed up. Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, was fired from the show in June amid tension that began when he allegedly used a gay slur to refer to Knight and used the word again during a Golden Globes appearance.

He has since apologized, met with gay leaders and checked into rehab on the advice of his handlers. Grey’s creator and writer Shonda Rhimes [who made the decision to fire Washington], considered one of the most powerful black women in Hollywood, was among those picketing at Paramount. Asked if Washington was with the Grey’s group, Heigl, who had previously publicly criticized Washington told The Daily News, “He’s not with me.”

But Washington denied there were problems with his former co-workers. “They’re former castmates. I’ve been in over 25 movies, I have lots of former castmates.” he said.

[From the Daily News]

Sounds like a pretty awkward reunion to me. And while I’m sure Isaiah Washington has lots of former castmates, to my knowledge he hasn’t referred to any of them with unsavory gay slurs. Frankly if I were in his shoes, I would try to keep a low profile for a few years and do my best to keep getting steady – but not attention-producing – work.

In other WGA strike news, there are some pretty loud rumblings that all of the late night hosts - including Jay Leno, Conan O’Brien, David Letterman, Craig Ferguson, and Jimmy Kimmel – will be returning to their shows in mid-to-late January. Though they all stood by their writers and refused to cross picket lines from the beginning, their shows have lost a massive amount of viewership and most of their staff and crew have been fired. No word on how they’ll return. One would assume less or no monologues or sketches, so probably a mostly interview format. Here’s a funny video about the strike starring Saturday Night Live cast member and writer Fred Armisen as fictional studio head/Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers member (they’re the Writer’s Guild’s foes) Roger A. Trevanti.

Katherine Heigl might not be smart enough to know when to keep her mouth shut, but she is clever enough to know when to apologise. Or at least clarify. Katherine recently branded the comedy she starred in ‘Knocked Up’ as being sexist.

She tells People.com, “It’s important to me to take a minute and clarify the quote about ‘Knocked Up’ in Vanity Fair.

“I was responding to previous reviews about the movie the interviewer brought to my attention. My motive was to encourage other women like myself to not take that element of the movie too seriously and to remember that it’s a broad comedy.

“Although I stand behind my opinion, I’m disheartened that it has become the focus of my experience with the movie.

“The truth is, it was the best filming experience of my career. Every person that was a part of making ‘Knocked Up’ helped to encourage, support and inspire me. I never intended for anyone to think otherwise.”

San Francisco Chronicle

Katherine has never been afraid to say what she thinks, previously she’s been known to publicly discuss her pay negotiations, and also suggested that Isaiah Washington should “just not speak in public. Period”.

I’m guessing that Isaiah Washington won’t be invited to Katherine’s wedding to Josh Kelly, but it seems the rest of the Grey’s Anatomy cast has been. T.R. Knight will be serving as bridesman, but Patrick Dempsey won’t be coming, instead he plans to stay home and spend Christmas with his new twins.

“It’s the first Christmas with the boys. They’ll be walking by then, so we’re excited,” he says.

As a result, he won’t be attending his “Grey’s” co-star Katherine Heigl’s wedding, but he shares, “I am so happy for her. I’ve never seen her so happy. He’s a great guy, too, and they are a great couple.”

ET

I wonder what Katherine said to Patrick Dempsey to stop him from attending her wedding? She seems to have chronic foot in mouth disease, doesn’t she know that you never say anything disparaging about your co-workers or boss? Except when you are inside a sound proof room, in a different country, and only when you intend on resigning. Or after your 15th cocktail at the office Christmas party.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Katherine Heigl is shown eating brunch on 12/9/07, thanks to Splash News. She is also shown at the Emmy Awards on 9/16/07, thanks to PRPhotos.

Isaiah Washington has been given a second chance by NBC after he was dropped from Grey’s Anatomy following the use of a homophobic insult and resulting on-set fight with Patrick Dempsey. (It was rumored that producers will willing to keep him on for another season, but that cast members banded together to ensure he was fired from the show.)

Washington will appear on five episodes of the fantasy series Bionic Woman this fall, and he is also said to be developing an action series with NBC, in which he will star. According to IMDB, he has a movie coming up in 2008 called The Least of These in which he plays a teacher trying to solve a sex abuse-based murder.

How this guy got so many gigs after behaving like an ass and then bringing it up again unnecessarily is beyond me. At least he did an anti-defamation PSA, but that doesn’t absolve him of guilt.

Regardless it’s a good thing for everyone that Washington owes money to that he’s still getting work. He was deep in debt before he landed the role of Dr. Preston Burke on Grey’s Anatomy in 2005. He didn’t just have some looming credit card and tax bills, he had bills that he refused to pay for so long that he faced multiple lawsuits from creditors. He eventually paid most of the money he owed, but only after he was ruled responsible for his debts:

In 1998, Beverly Hills radiology group Tower Magnetic sued Isaiah and his wife Jenisa to collect $2,083 in unpaid medical bills. After a court trial, the Washingtons were found liable for the full amount - plus $771 in miscellaneous court fees. The couple paid in full that October.

In 2003, the Ford Motor Credit Company took Washington to court to recover $8,340. The case was settled.

Washington had a role in the Steven Seagal action pic Exit Wounds, which filmed in 2000. Two years later, top talent agency ICM won a court arbiter’s ruling that Isaiah owed them $25,000 in agent’s fees. Washington paid half the amount - but ICM was forced to take him to court for the other half. In October 2003, a judge ordered Washington to pay the missing $12,500 (plus $1,108 in interest) - but records show that as of September 2004, he still hadn’t paid up!

In January 2005, the IRS filed a federal tax lien against Isaiah and Jenisa for an unpaid balance of $41,063 from their 2001 and 2002 tax returns. They paid in full five months later.

[From Star Magazine print edition, August 6, 2007]

It sounds like not paying bills is a pattern for Washington. He probably was living beyond his means, thinking that he was about to hit it big. A lot of people get in trouble with debt and it’s nothing to be ashamed of, but to me this is just more evidence that he thinks the rules don’t apply to him.

I wanted to avoid talking about this, because homophobes are so 1987, but Isaiah Washington called his co-star on Grey’s Anatomy, T.R. Knight the f word while they were on set back in October, prompting a fight with fellow star Patrick Dempsey, who came to Knight’s defense. Knight has since come out of the closet, making Washington look like even more of a douche.

Then during a Golden Globes interview, Washington invoked the terrible f word again while denying that the incident happened, and tried to backtrack by saying how much he loves the gays.

Their other co-star Katherine Heigl chimed in, saying Washington should STFU about it and not ruin everyone’s special night. ABC was forced to issue a statement saying they have a good work environment and don’t condone Washington’s behavior, and Washington has finally apologized with a statement admitting that he is the idiot that everyone has been calling him.

Here’s Heigl’s second statement about it. She says they need to stop talking about it, it’s hurtful, and that T.R. is her “best friend in the whole world.”

Can they fire this guy and can we move on now?

Header image is original art for Celebitchy by UrbanDK. Video is from TMZ.

Quote of the week goes to Grey’s Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington following rumors of a nasty fight on-set earlier this week with some rather offensive comments about pudgy co-star T.R. Knight

“I misspoke earlier … I am soooooo, his little faggot.”

This post was originally published on Grumpy Old Indian Man, and is republished here under a content share agreement. If you would like to link it, please link directly to Grumpy Old Indian Man’s blog.

Note from Cele|bitchy: Grumpy Old Indian Man is DJing at the Yellow Lounge at the Grand Hotel Casino in Lucern, Switzerland tonight. Here’s the invite, which links to a bigger version:

Actor Isaiah Washington called one of his fellow “Gray’s Anatomy” actors a faggot, prompting the well-publicized on-set fight on October 9th in which Washington choked and shoved Patrick Dempsey. It is unknown who the slur was directed at, and reporting paper National Enquirer has censored out the person’s name, not that it matters anyway. When some asshole wants to use a slur, they’ll throw it at anyone:

It sounds like that guy is going to get axed from the show. His character is working with a paralyzed right hand, and maybe he’ll deal with a more serious medical problem soon.