Isaiah Washington: 'I Was Treated Like a N***er'

Isaiah Washington must have been over the moon when he got to appear on "Larry King Live", which was, like, his first TV appearance since he got fired from the "Grey's Anatomy" show. Ever since that day, he has been the delight of the tabloids, because he just could not keep his mouth shut. More to the point, he claimed to be the only victim of this scenario and that all of this happened to him because of his skin color.

So last night, he was given the opportunity to tell his side of the story, but in a somewhat more organized fashion. Here's what went down.

While on the set of "Grey's Anatomy", Isaiah decided he could no longer put up with co-star Patrick Dempsey showing up late time and time again. On one such occasion, he confronted Dempsey, but he replied that he was never late.

On that specific day, Dempsey and Washington were supposed to do a scene together. The scene involved them being on camera, and an off-camera line by co-star Ellen Pompeo. Dempsey insisted that the whole crew wait for Ellen to arrive, because he needed her. To which Washington replied that he does not need to wait for Ellen because he can act. Ouch!

Now he did not say it directly, but you can be sure that Patrick Dempsey took that as "I can act but you can't". So he got mad and the two got in a heated argument. Isaiah admitted to Larry King that he lost it as well and started to say some things that do not do him justice, including the "faggot" bid. But he only meant it in the "wimp" sense. I'm sure that the gay community will be very "happy" to hear that. He also used the F-word several times, to which he added that he would not be treated as a "n***er" (the N-word) in front of the rest of the crew.

The bottom line is, Washington claimed that his remarks were aimed at Dempsey, not at T.R. Knight. In case you don't remember, when the scandal began, it was believed that Knight was the target of the argument, which is why a couple of days later he admitted publicly that he is a homosexual.

The interesting part is that Isaiah tried to resign from the show on two occasions, but the producers refused to let him go because they feared the whole deal might turn into a race issue, which could only have had a negative impact on the show. Instead, they made him apologize, then they sent him to counseling, after which they fired him.

When Larry King asked him what he learnt from this experience, Isaiah answered that the best thing to do when the media is gunning for you is to keep your mouth shut. Well, he must have learned this only seconds before the show, because if there is one thing that Isaiah did not do all these months was to keep his big mouth shut. Hopefully, he will do it from now on.