Washington says TR should have been fired!

Isaiah Washington must be pretty pissed off that he wasted all that time being around gay people, apologizing, explaining and taping public service announcements for tolerance, because he’s back, he’s mad as hell again– and some might even say he’s “blaming the victim” as he tries to repair the career damage from his Grey’s Anatomy firing.

Isaiah got the boot earlier this month after much controversy over an onset explosion in which he went for co-star Patrick Dempsey’s throat and referred to his other co-star TR Knight as a “faggot.”

“They fired the wrong guy!” he exploded today, blaming TR for the fine mess.

“I fell all this was about him getting a raise, and getting his character to stop being perceived as a dopy, kooky kind of character. He perceives himself as a leading man. that’s why you can see the change this past season. That was his whole, his whole impetus behind this. And I was used. And I was exploited.

“I have to clear my name. I’ll start from the beginning. I’m telling everything.

“So here’s the truth.”

Hear Isaiah’s version of the truth in his own voice… and get a load of his final quote… after the jump…Speaking in a phone interview with his hometown paper, The Houston Chronicle, Isaiah claimed that TR stirred up the notion that the “faggot” slur was targeted at him and that TR, not Isaiah, created a negative work environment by doing things like appearing on The Ellen DeGeneres Show and saying that “everyone (on the set) heard” the new f-word.

“That’s a lie!” Isaiah said. “I used the word during a disagreement with Patrick. I apologized for that. We shook hands and went back to work.”

Of his firing, Isaiah said: “That was a shock. I did everything they told me to do, including not saying anything, and then they didn’t renew my contract. That’s not fair.”

He said he’s still thinking of suing. “My livelihood, my honor and dignity and my name have been so challenged.

“I was not fired for making homophobic slurs. I did everything I said I would do. I offered to go to counseling, to do a public service announcement. I wanted everyone to know I was remorseful.”

Isaiah at least ended the initerview with some humour. At least we hope he was kidding when he said that after 20 years of a spotless record in Hollywood, he made three errors in judgment: “believing the cast of Grey’s Anatomy were like family; believing I had the freedom to express myself with family and that we could resolve our issues; and trusting ABC was going to take care of me.

“I’m not angry. I’m disappointed.”

Now that’s funny!

(Hear selections from Isaiah’s interview here.)

–Tabloid Baby