Anatomy of a diss
Stop me if you’ve heard this one… Some time
ago, the actor who plays a secondary character on the prime time drama Grey’s
Anatomy was inadvertently outed as a result of a hostile exchange between
two of his cast mates during filming. Most of you are aware of the incident and
the ensuing melodrama that got us all acquainted with virtual nobody T.R.
Knight, but for those of you who have lives, and don’t give a uff about the
backstage dealings of Hollywood’s b-list this is what you need to know.
Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsy were to
shoot a scene together and there was some kind of hold up that led to a heated
conversation between the two. At some point in said conversation Washington is
quoted as having shouted “I’m not your little faggot like T.R.” the story of
the altercation was quickly leaked to The Enquirer who ran the quote but
omitted T.R.’s name to ‘protect his identity.’ Of course the protection was
more of a taunt cause the story spread like Rose on a first date (date?
HA!) and by the next morning pretty
much every tabloid was either speculating on the identity of Dempsy’s alleged
‘little faggot’ or offering the question up as a blind item.
Soon after T.R. Knight released a statement to
the media admitting to being the ‘little faggot’ in question and went on to say
that: “While I
prefer to keep my personal life private, I hope the fact that I’m gay isn’t the
most interesting part of me.” Unfortch for him, those were both hoop dreams.
After
this the Grey’s Anatomy p.r. people did their best to get everything under
control, and make like the cast was one big happy family and suggest that the
feud was blown out of proportion. Knight became a regular feature on celebrity
blogs generally pictured with his boyfriend, some other TV. nobody from Brother
& Sisters, shopping in L.A. or picking up his soy mocha chai latte frappachino from Starbucks. Washington
didn’t talk about it at all. That is, until this week on the red carpet at the
Golden Globes where Washington first joked: "I love gay. I wanted to be
gay. Please let me be gay." As if that lameness wasn’t enough later on in
the pressroom following the shows victory for best use of hair extensions or
something, he tried to deny his role in the whole scandal by flat out claiming:
“No, I did not call T.R a faggot. It did not happen.”
At
This point T.R. who was standing only feet away, obviously mortified, turned
his head as if to avoid witnessing the gore of a high-speed crash. Katherine
Heigl a fellow cast member who was clearly not impressed with Washington’s
outright denial spoke briefly with an Access Hollywood camera crew and said:
“I’m going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public.
Period. I’m sorry, that did not need to be said, I’m not okay with it.” She
then went on to say that she had her man T.R.’s back should push come to shove:
“I will throw down for that kid. I will beat you up. I will use every ounce of
energy I have to take you down if you hurt his feelings.” And for Washington’s
benefit I assume she continued: “saying that word again is just unnecessary.”
The ‘again’ part really sealing the deal as far as where she stands on this
whole “I did not have sexual relations…” scenario is concerned.
After
all of that ‘best drama’drama, T.R. once again was faced with the dubious task
of setting the record straight and separating fact from fiction. He made an
appearance on the Ellen Show and told Ellen that: “He [Washington] referred to me as a faggot…Everyone heard it.” And
went on to say the Washington’s callous remark had forced him out of the
closet. As for Washington’s award night denial T.R. had this to say: "Yeah,
he denied that he said it. I don’t know what to say… really, about
that."
Now
GLADD and some other West Hollywood heavyweights are campaigning for
Washington’s dismissal while other are crossing their fingers for a bizarre
plot twist (on Grey’s Archenemy) that would finds Isaiah on the
receiving end of a homosexual subplot.
I
just don’t understand what led Washington to think that pretending it never
happened was gonna help him save face. Like grow a pair already, take a page
from the book of Mel, sit down with Diane Sawyer or Meredith Vieira or one of
those other sympathetic motherly morning types and apologize, come clean.
Mel
gets caught drunk driving and then blames Jews for all the worlds woes, so he
says sorry, gets treatment and lets it be known that he was raised by a
notorious racist holocaust denier. Michael Richards gets heckled and proceeds
to say nigger 500 consecutive times after telling his heckler that in the good
ol’ days he would have been strung up to a tree. And as soon as he can he gets
on Letterman, too ashamed to show up in person and acknowledges his guilt says
sorry and admits that he followed a joke made in poor taste too far. Sure the
world hasn’t exactly forgiven him, but he can still find a way to make right.
Even Arnold Schwarzenegger, who at the time was running for governor, conceded,
“where there is smoke, there is fire” and that indeed, in his heyday, he did
forcibly finger fuck a P.A. (well not in so many words) He blamed the incident
on his extremely high testosterone and her extreme hotness and went on to win
the election.
A
little self-fladulation is called for here and maybe even some public introspection,
why did he call T.R. a Faggot? And what does he have against little people?
…other than the obvious creep factor.
He
could balme being a black man. Any gay will tell you the boogieman is a group
of black guys walking behind you and kissing their teeth while you’re on your
way home from the club. Obvi not all blacks guys are scary gay haters, but as
someone who works in lil Jamaica let me tell you, the nasty cat calls are a
easy reminder that I need to work a little harder not to swish my hips when I’m
tryin to catch the Ossington 63. But seriously, this could be a great moment
for Isaiah Washington to address a pertinent social issue. Not to mention what
he could do for black gay people who as Langston Hughes put it are sinners
against their race.
I do
believe we will definitely be hearing from Washington in the next little while.
I hope he has the good sense to hire a publicist (and a gay one at that) before
he makes his statement. And though I know it’s a far cry I do hope he takes my
advice, not because I like him, but because I give good advice. Can’t live my
own life worth shit, but I’ll tell you what to do with yours.
Oh
and look at that it’s 4:00 o’clock time for me to go home and get hammered,
ttyl.
Xo
Shants
dressed up to the T as Penny Marshall? And not cute Laverne
Shirley Penny Marshall, we’re talking Riding in Cars with Boys
