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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4787
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 02:45 pm: | 
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If racism might have been A factor in your firing but not THE ONLY factor in your firing?
Ex-`Grey's' star cites racism for firing Thu Jun 28, 7:43 PM ET
LOS ANGELES - "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington said racism was a factor in his firing from the hit ABC series after he twice used an anti-gay slur.
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Washington, who initially used the epithet during an onset clash with a co-star, told Newsweek magazine that "someone heard the booming voice of a black man and got really scared and that was the beginning of the end for me."
He tried to make amends by expressing remorse and volunteering to enter a counseling program to understand how the confrontation got out of hand, he told Newsweek.
"My mistake was believing that I would get the support from my network and all of my cast mates across the board. My mistake was believing I could correct a wrong with honesty and sincerity," he said in the interview posted online Thursday.
"My mistake was thinking black people get second chances. I was wrong on all fronts," he said.
His unwillingness to act like a submissive black at work was part of the problem, Washington said.
"Well, it didn't help me on the set that I was a black man who wasn't a mush-mouth Negro walking around with his head in his hands all the time. I didn't speak like I'd just left the plantation and that can be a problem for people sometime," he said.
"I had a person in human resources tell me after this thing played out that `some people' were afraid of me around the studio. I asked her why, because I'm a 6-foot-1, black man with dark skin and who doesn't go around saying `Yessah, massa sir' and `No sir, massa' to everyone?
"It's nuts when your presence alone can just scare people, and that made me a prime candidate to take the heat in a dysfunctional family," he said.
ABC declined comment Thursday. In its one public statement regarding Washington, issued in January, the network said his actions were "unacceptable."
Washington, who used the slur against co-star T.R. Knight during a confrontation with Patrick Dempsey, repeated the word backstage at the Golden Globes in January in denying the first incident. A public apology to Knight and others followed.
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On the Net:
http://www.abc.com
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 9078
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 03:08 pm: |
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Washington is just copping a plea, relying on the old racists buzz words, trying to diss the other black actors on the show and do damage control to his own image. He has a lot of nerve talking about being a strong black man considering how he groveled in his public apology to gays, engaging in self-flagellating while seeking the forgivance of his co-workers. Not only that, the person who fired him was a black sisa. |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6105
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 03:20 pm: |
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"I had a person in human resources tell me after this thing played out that `some people' were afraid of me around the studio. I asked her why, because I'm a 6-foot-1, black man with dark skin and who doesn't go around saying `Yessah, massa sir' and `No sir, massa' to everyone?"
This shit is so maddening, man. Ugh!
But you gotta blame some blacks too, them ones that play the "good Nig.ger" role, setting us back 100 years and shit--Ugh! F*ck them Too.
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Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4788
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 03:29 pm: |
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Looks like he is in the wrong business--or the wrong end of it |
Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6106
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 04:07 pm: |
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...because he's eccentric?
If so, how do you explain Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Russell Crow, Nick Nolte…?
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6107
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 04:10 pm: |
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...and Mel Gibson?
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Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 9090
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 05:06 pm: |
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All of the white actors named by Tonya have "juice" in the business so if they apologized after dissing gays, that would've sufficed. Isaiah Washington is a b-list actor and I certainly wouldn't describe him as "eccentric". He just has poor judgment. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 5126
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 05:12 pm: |
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Hollywood is NOT going to kick out any white boy. Isaiah should have kept his mouth shut because that's too big of a payday to jeopardize by expressing your opinions about anything. Now he's at their mercy and looking dumb. Actors should focus on acting, not politicking.
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Tonya
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 6111
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Friday, June 29, 2007 - 05:29 pm: |
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I saw him on Oprah once and he seemed just a lil-bit eccentric to me. However he also came across strong and aware and that's what I found sooo appealing.
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Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 9408
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2007 - 04:12 am: |
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One of the biggest problems I had when I entered the workplace after college was I was OFTEN told by White supervisors and managers that others found me to be "intimidating". That was bvllsh*t.
They weren't accustomed to a Black man confidently asserting his opinion and position, especially in the ultra-White/conservative world of finance/accounting. And I'm sure being over 6 foot tall and having a naturally loud, deep voice added to that effect.
Is that really the source of Isaiah Washington's troubles? I don't know. But what he describes of his experience is something MANY other Black men have struggled with.
I like Isaiah Washington. He's a good actor who usually leave an indelible impression on everything he does. He's probably damaged his short-term acting prospects. But if he's as strong, smart and self-assured as he lets on he should be aight. |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 4801
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Saturday, June 30, 2007 - 10:14 am: |
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They weren't accustomed to a Black man confidently asserting his opinion and position, especially in the ultra-White/conservative world of finance/accounting. And I'm sure being over 6 foot tall and having a naturally loud, deep voice added to that effect.
(Missouri is a very conservative state. An experience I have shared with other blacks, men and women, is that you often got into trouble talking to them like you had some sense.
You didn't have to get loud. You didn't have to be angry or threatening. Just being challenging or assertive in any way that another black person would have appreciated--"oh this person is no fool" was threatening.
Looks to me like he was in the wrong business. |
Mzuri
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Mzuri
Post Number: 5156
Registered: 01-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, July 01, 2007 - 07:12 pm: |
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FYI - He's going to be on Larry King tomorrow (or one day this week). |
A_womon
Veteran Poster
Username: A_womon
Post Number: 1659
Registered: 05-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, July 03, 2007 - 06:24 am: |
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On Larry King, Isaiah said that he wasn't talking to his gay co-star when he used the word "fag". He was having a confrontation with Patrick Dempsey and told him that he wasn't going to treat him like a "bytch, a fag...in front of the crew..." I didn't see the entire enterview so I don't know if his gay co-star actually heard him say the word or if one of the other crew members went back and told him. |
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