Paris Barclay: "Isaiah needs to be fired"

AfterElton.com editor Michael Jensen has just posted a strong piece on his site about the Isaiah Washington-T.R. Knight situation, which escalated this week to unimagined levels after Washington said backstage at Monday's Golden Globe Awards that he did not call Knight "a faggot." Knight was on Ellen DeGeneres' show Wednesday and said that, yes, Washington had called him that name on-set.

Jensen asked Paris Barclay (pictured, above), the widely respected out director, producer, and a vice president of the Director's Guild of America, what action should be taken against Washington by ABC and by the show. Barclay did not mince words: “Here's what needs to happen: ABC, from Steve McPherson [ABC President] on down, need to condemn this kind of hate-speak, and Isaiah needs to be fired. It's just that simple. He needs to go. He's a homophobe and a liar, and no matter how important he may appear to be, there has to be a line on what behavior is acceptable both on the set and when representing the show to the press.�

When asked how he would've handled the situation, Barclay, currently working on FX's "Dirt" and CBS's "CSI." said: “We'd figure out a way to work out the contract issues, and write the actor out as quickly as possible. Actors with addiction problems have been let go unceremoniously -- this to me is much worse.�

Neither ABC or Washington's publicist had comment Wednesday.
Stay tuned. In the meantime, go over to AfterElton.com and read Jensen's strongly-worded article.