In England a faggot is a delicious meaty treat made from pig's heart and bacon all mashed up in a ball, but everywhere else a faggot is something that makes Isaiah Washington from Grey's Anatomy look like a bit of a doltish nincompoop.
Isaiah Washington, you'll remember, got in a fight on the Grey's Anatomy set in October after calling secretly gay TR Knight a "faggot." At first Isaiah Washington denied that he'd used that particular gay slur, only for everyone who's ever worked on Grey's Anatomy to subsequently snitch on him bigstyle. Now, sensing that his career is on the line, Isaiah Washington has issued a full, frank and sincere apology to everyone he offended with the "faggot" jibe. For those of you who can't be bothered to read the rest of this article, think back to what happened with Mel Gibson in the summer and just replace all the "Fucking Jews" and "Sugartits" bits with the word "faggot," since that's more or less all Isaiah Washington actually did.
In the beginning Mel Gibson created making yourself look like a racist wanker in front of the entire world, before eventually learning that the only way to get out of problems like this was to apologise relentlessly to leaders of the offended community. And now, whenever anyone else upsets an entire swathe of society, they tread in Mel's footprints. Michael Richards – following his gigantically offensive racist meltdown onstage – apologised to Al Sharpton. Al wasn't having any of it, but at least Richards tried. We also expect that Jade Goody will be flying to India in the next few weeks to meet Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and be all like "Sorry for being racial Mr Poppadom Whatsyerface."
And then there's Isaiah Washington from Grey's Anatomy, who is slightly different. Isaiah Washington didn't offend a racial group, but a social one – the gays. During the legendary Grey's Anatomy actor-fight of 2006, Isaiah Washington reportedly referred to co-star TR Knight as a "faggot" which, in turn, made TR Knight look at himself, think "Wait a minute, I AM gay!" and then announce his public homosexuality to a partly-suspecting world. Following the bust-up Isaiah Washington apologised for the fight but not the gay slur.
In fact Isaiah Washington then went on to deny calling anyone a "faggot" at all – something which prompted another Grey's Anatomy star, Katherine Heigl, to publicly round on Isaiah for being a liar. When this was followed by an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show by TR Knight who also confirmed that the slur was directed at him, Isaiah Washington had to think fast. And where did he go first? The Mel Gibson Handbook For Monumentally Insensitive Celebrities, of course. The LA Times printed Isaiah Washington's apology:
"I can neither defend nor explain my behaviour. 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. With one word, I've hurt everyone who has struggled for the respect so many of us take for granted. I welcome the chance to meet with leaders of the gay and lesbian community to apologise in person. T.R.'s courage throughout this entire episode speaks to his tremendous character. I hold his talent, and T.R. as a person, in high esteem. I know a mere apology will not end this, and I intend to let my future actions prove my sincerity."
While we can't be entirely certain that Isaiah Washington didn't mean Mr Humpries from Are You Being Served and Smithers from The Simpsons when he mentioned "leaders of the gay and lesbian community" it seems like leaders of the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation are taking Washington on his word and have agreed a meeting with the actor which – following GLAAD tradition – will consist of a mumbled apology from Isaiah Washington, a quick "oh, how could I ever stay mad at you, you great noodlebrain" and a big group hug.
Read more:
Grey's Washington issues apology for anti-gay remarks – LA Times
Inches says
I think Celebrity Big Brother and Grey’s Anatomy should have a bottle fight in a carpark to see which has the most ridiculously offensive cast. Isaiah’s a big man, but Jade could probably take him
callie says
ummm….why do we as americans feel like after we make an offensive statement torwards another group we call up their “group spokes person” to apologize.
Give me a break.
P. Angel says
Isn’t it amazing how quite a few blacks will bristle at the mere hint of racism but spew their own linguistic garbage? Proof that everyone has prejudice, more or less…
Schadeboy says
Let me get this straight (ha ha!):
Two men have a fight.
Guy Number 1 calls Guy Number 2 something that isn’t very nice.
Now Guy Number 1 has to apologize to the entire world?
When I was growing up, my mother taught me that when I offend a person, I must apologize to that person. She never said, “You hurt little Johnnie’s feelings, now you have to apologize to him, his whole family, major leaders of his religion, and everyone else who chooses to live the lifestyle that he does. And you probably have to apologize to Kevin Federline, too, just to be on the safe side.”
This whole PC thing is getting terribly out of hand. I’ll blame my parents, of course.
Robbin says
I feel that the recent performance by Isaiah Washington back stage at the Golden Globes continues a disturbing trend of hateful self absorbed stars freely spewing there own prejudices with no consequences. First we hear Washington started a fight with one co-star, apparently not his first fight, and then we hear he called T.R. Knight a fagot. Then he denies it in the most inappropriate place and way, only further showing his insensitive self promoting ways. Then we hear on “Ellen” that he did say it. So he’s violent, hateful, prejudice and dishonest. If he was on Lost they would have killed off his character by now. The thing Washington has in common with Mel Gibson and Michael Richards, besides rage, aggression, hate, and prejudice is they are all incredibly arrogant. That’s a lot of character flaws. I love the show and hope that you will show the character that the fans and the rest of the cast deserve and send a message that this kind of intolerance has no place on your show. All prejudice is the same.
Suaveydavey says
ABC is owned by Disney. It is interesting how this may play out, with Isaiah. The likes of T.R. Knight are plentiful throughout Disney’s empire. I’m curious to see if Mother Disney gives Isaiah a time-out. He should have left it alone to begin with. My Gran always said, ‘The best way to get out of a hole is to stop digging.’