Controversy: June 2007 Archives

Hey, I don't envision myself ever wanting to go to a Tyrese Gibson concert in this or any other lifetime but I think I should have the option to go to one. But the actor/singer is banning all men from his current "Shirts Off" tour - even the straight ones! But apparently it's the gay ones that make him so uncomfortable - even though he is quite willing to display his chisled body for women and men alike on a regular basis.
Gibson, who I saw in "Transformers" last night, is getting the homophobic label from many quarters because of what reportedly went down at a concert not to long again. He threw his sweaty shirt into the crowd and was incensed that a man caught it...and kept it! Things escalated to a point where the poor guy with the sweaty shirt was escorted out by security. I hope he's using that shirt as a rag to wash his car now ore making some $$ off it on eBay.
Sounds like SOMEONE's got some issues...

Isaiah Washington is still talking. Is there going to be ANYTHING left for him to tell Larry King next week? He talked to Newsweek's Allison Samuels in what the magazine's Web site labled an "exclusive." I guess it's exclusive if ya don't count the Houston Chronicle and Keith Boykin.
Anyway, I've selected some of the quotes from Samuels well-written story, to share with you on this fine Thursday afternoon:

Washington goes back to the on-set fight that started it all:"Patrick [Dempsey] and I had a philosophical disagreement that got out of hand and that I regret a great deal...I said a lot of negative things that were never reported, but there was one word that caught everyone’s attention, particularly someone who wasn’t even in the room with us. It was a fight between two men that shouldn’t have happened. But someone heard the booming voice of a black man and got really scared and that was the beginning of the end for me. I see that now, but I didn’t then."
"I apologized and showed my remorse for what I said and for the pain I caused anyone...If a black man can’t get forgiveness in this country, when so many other people like Robert Downey Jr. and the governor of California get second and third chances … I think that says a lot about race and this country where we stand."
Washington added that "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...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.’’

"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. My mistake was thinking black people get second chances. I was wrong on all fronts."

To read the entire article, go to Newsweek.com.

AND JUST ONE MORE THING: it seemed a bit strange that openly gay PR giant HOWARD BRAGMAN agreed to take on ISAIAH WASHINGTON on as a client in the first place. But if Bragman, who also reps the repsected JOHN AMAECHI,wanted to help Washington rehab his tattered public image with PSAs and made amends to all the gays he offended with his use of the other F-word, the collaboration might make some sense. But as of Thursday atternoon, Bragman STILL reps Washington who has made outrageous comments in recent weeks about former co-star T.R. Knight....

Well, being controversial whether it be homophobic or driving drunk is certainly the ticket to get you the big seat on "Larry King Live." Paris Hilton, just a day out of jail, is to appear tomorrow night to talk about her supposed metamorphosis. That oughta take about five minutes.
And on July 2, Larry will welcome with open arms Isaiah Washington who has had some outrageous things to say about former costars TR Knight and Patrick Dempsey in recent days. (See earlier post) I gotta wonder what Washington is doing to his career in the name of attempting to clear his name or get his side of the story out. Besides his credibility issues, The Hollywood Reporter reports that Washington has been in preliminary discussions with NBC about a deal, although the talks have stalled, according to people familiar with the situation. It was not clear whether NBC was interested in bringing the outspoken actor onto an existing series or casting him in a new project.
The actor told Entertainment Weekly that he and his agent "are sorting through a ton of offers in both film and TV ... There is one network in particular that's very interested, but I don't want to say anything specific until it's a done deal," the magazine quoted him as saying.
Washington made news during the past week with a couple of charged interviews, including one suggesting that Knight should have been fired instead of him and accusing Knight of milking the homophobic remark incident to get more screen time and better pay.

Something has happened with Wal-Mart that is really disappointing and a clear example of the kinds of intolerence gays and lesbians continue to face. Just a year after Wal-Mart joined the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, an organization of 24,000 gay- and lesbian-owned businesses, and cosponsored the Out & Equal workplace rights group, Wal-Mart has decided to stop supporting LGBT organizations under threat of a boycott by Christian groups (so full of love, huh?) as well as the disapproval of many employees, according to Advocate.com.
Mona Williams, Wal-Mart's senior vice president of corporate communications, told the magazine that the retailer is "not currently planning corporate-level contributions to GLBT groups." She cited a Wal-Mart policy penned last year that prohibits "support[ing] or oppos[ing] highly controversial issues."
It's so strange to be a living, breathing human being and yet, at the same time, be a highly controversial issue.
Williams said that Wal-Mart will be no less supportive of its LGBT personnel.
"We certainly don't feel [the decision] is a retrenchment," Williams said.
Kinda seems like it to me.

The terrific blogger Keith Boykin got a call from Isaiah Washington who offered up an unsolicited interview to continue to tell his side of the story. Their talk too place last night. I'm going to bite my tongue and just give you some excerpts and you can come to your own conclusions:
"I'm not firing back at anybody else in the cast but T.R. Knight and Katie Heigl because they both know as well as Chandra Wilson knows that T.R. Knight was very tactical in trying to remove me from the show because he knows that I know, and I was gagged, that he has been working on a conspiracy to get Patrick Dempsey and myself off the show for the last year and a half."
According to Washington, "The only reason I used his name, T.R., in the argument was because he had led me to believe that Patrick Dempsey was so abusive and so horrible to people in a two and a half hour conversation on the plane. For two and a half hours, this boy talked my ear off, Keith, about how horrible Patrick Dempsey is and how he needs to be removed from the show. And in my argument, the irony of it is that Patrick happened to show some behavior that was very in line with what T.R. was telling me on the plane and I challenged T.R. to deny it or say this isn't true."
"All the dirty macking that he gave me about Patrick Dempsey led me to believe that Patrick was trying to treat me in a disrespectful manner, in the same kind of manner apparently accorded to T.R. that Patrick had treated him. And even to this day, when I went back to the set Patrick Dempsey and T.R. still have a rift and are still not on speaking terms. They do not talk to each other...I know Patrick Dempsey has supported me by stating that if there is anyone that needs to be fired it is T.R. Knight because he has created such a negative environment on that set because he felt like he has not been treated and given the same leading man kinds of story lines that have been given to Patrick and Isaiah. He felt like his character was being treated very caricatureish and dopey and he wanted a change. That's why you see his character changing so significantly into being all of a sudden this really dopey guy into being this uber he-man that's sleeping with everyone."

"This is something that T.R. Knight has been trying to do and using the incident of the so-called F-word that was targeted at him, which is a flat out lie, to blackmail the writers into doing his bidding, and it's not working. The producers are not happy about it, and quite frankly, they all think that something has gone awfully awry with the stability of T.R. Knight.
And I can freely say this now because I am no longer a Disney employee and I am no longer gagged. But everyone there, including the producers, all the way up to Touchstone, are very disappointed in the behavior of T.R. Knight...And let me be clear Keith. All of this I'm saying to you has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that he's gay. He came out October 19 as purely a tactical move to do exactly what it did, get public opinion in an outrage to lead them to believe that he is being picked on because he is gay. He could care less about the gay community."
Washington is planning to tell all when he appears on Larry King Live on CNN.

OK, I do have a few things to add:
So what was this statement Washington made back in February all about? “I apologize to T.R., my colleagues, the fans of the show and especially the lesbian and gay community for using a word that is unacceptable in any context or circumstance. By repeating the word Monday night, I marred what should have been a perfect night for everyone who works on Grey’s Anatomy. I can neither defend nor explain my behavior. I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help."

My only interview with Washington was On the Red Carpet at the American Music Awards last November and I asked him if he was proud of T.R. and the way he handled the situation with his coming out statement:
ISAIAH: T.R., the thing about T.R., is T.R. has been gay for a long time (laughs). I think it was a mere coincidence that it came out the way it came out. But we all love T.R. We all know who T.R. is and T.R. knows who T.R. is trust me, T.R. would never be a victim or victimized by anyone under any circumstances and if I saw it or heard it, i would be the first one jumping into the fray to make sure he would be protected from something like that. That's my family, that's all i can say to that.

Isaiah Washington has done an interview with his hometown newspaper, the Houston Chronicle. I think it shows that all the gayhab and PSAs etc. were not so sincere, but merely a jumping through hoops to save his job on "Grey's Anatomy." Now that he's been fired, he's back in Golden Globe Award night mode, an evening when he publicly denied calling gay castmate T.R. Knight a "f****t" and in doing so, repeated the slur.
Here is some of what he had to say to Chronicle reporter Joy Sewing:
"They fired the wrong guy," Isaiah Washington said. The former Dr. Preston Burke on ABC's hit series "Grey's Anatomy" said that T.R. Knight should have been fired from the show.
"I have to clear my name. I'll start from the beginning. I'm telling everything. So here's the truth."
Washington said Knight, who plays Dr. George O'Malley, stirred up the notion that the slur was targeted at him and created a negative work environment. Washington also alleged that Knight likely wanted a salary increase and a more substantive role for his character. Knight, who acknowledged that he was gay after the incident, told Ellen DeGeneres in January that Washington used the slur against him and that "everyone (on the set) heard it."
"That's a lie," Washington said. "I used the word during a disagreement with Patrick. I apologized for that. We shook hands and went back to work."
He is considering a lawsuit: "My livelihood, my honor and dignity and my name have been so challenged."
"I was not fired for making homophobic slurs," he said. "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."
Washington learned ABC would not renew his contract in a tearful call from the show's creator, Shondra Rhimes:"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."

Hmmmm. I just don't think this interview helps.

These two crazy...and I do mean CRAZY kids. Former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and his former wife Dina Matos-McGreevery (he's the selfpdescribed 'gay American,' she's the one who smiled like a moron while he said) are back in the news because she is blaming the poor sales of her memoir on him.
Not one to take such a swipe like a man, McGreevey screamed back like a catty bitch in a lengthy court statement where his lack of character is just oh so clear to see.
Here is just a snippet because if I post any more, I might vomit: "Instead of blaming the failure of her book on her awful appearance on Oprah Show…appearing in an inappropriate and ill-fitting ballgown with a plunging neckline or blaming the fact that her book is poorly written or dull…or blaming…the unbelievable assertion that she did not know her husband was gay, or blaming the assertion that the plaintiff was a ‘bisexual’ when he clearly announced he was a ‘Gay American,’ she blames the plaintiff.

Meeeeeeeeoooow!!!!!

McGreevey adds: "This defendant, more than most, has had the opportunity to have her position published and she has. She has taken full advantage of television, radio and print to tell her story. The public is not stupid. They hear both sides and make up their minds.”

OK you two: GROW UP!

Former "Grey's Anatomy" star Isaiah Washington has elaborated on his silly "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" statement from last week after he found out he was fired from the hit show. He got himself into hot water last fall for caling gay castmate T.R. Knight a "faggot" on set then publicly denied having said it - and repeated the word - backstage at the Golden Globe Awards a few weeks later.
He has given an interview to Entertainment Weekly and frankly, after reading it, I am even more happy than before for the outcome:
"I can only take one day at a time. I can only apologize so many times. I can only accept so much responsibility. All the players involved have taken care of what we needed to take care of in-house — and the media took it in a different direction. I hope that everyone is happy for the outcome for Isaiah, but Isaiah will go on and do what I love to do. And I have to go about the business of letting people know what's written about me is not the truth. I'm merely an actor, a husband, and a father who's trying to do a great job and be very grateful and understanding that I'm in a very privileged position. This isn't a time for me to be looking back; it's only a time for me to be looking forward. I just hope people can understand in the industry and otherwise that it's a horrible misunderstanding what transpired with our show and it was blown out of proportion. If the naysayers out there feel that some justice has been served and that they're happy with the outcome, so be it. It's incumbent on me to take what I do, do it well, grow from the experience, and move on."

Still sounds like a jerk, huh? I mean, how do you blame the media when you blurt out a lie (and repeat the offensive slur in the process) in front of the world press at the Globes?

I'll say it up front. I cannot wait to see "Hairspray" and I plan to see it. But I wanted to report on the editor of a gay publication who is calling for a boycott of the summer musical because John Travolta is one o the leads.
"Travolta, a prominent Scientologist, has no business reprising an iconic gay role, given his [religion's] stance on gay issues," notes Kevin Naff, managing editor of the gay-oriented Washington Blade. "It's well known that Scientology rejects gays and lesbians as members and even operates reparative therapy clinics to 'cure' homosexuality."
Travolta has been dogged by gay rumors for many years which he has never commented on. The most recent batch came last year when photos of him giving a male friend a kiss goodbye on the lips made the tabloids and blogosphere.

All we've heard from fired former "Grey's Anatomy" cast member Isaiah Washington today is that he is "mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore."
TV Guide super scoop Michael Ausiello reports that Isaiah is indeed plenty steamed over being dumped after all his little attempts at redemption. Says his publicist Howard Bragman:
"If they wanted to fire him, why didn't they fire him when [the incident] happened? Why did they say, 'Here's what you need to do if you want to come back… ' and then, when he did everything that was asked of him, he still gets fired. Why do you treat somebody like that?"
"If you made a mistake, you acknowledged the mistake, you went into counseling, you met with the groups, you did the PSA, you did everything that was asked of you, and then they still kick you in the gut? How would you feel?"

I dunno. I might feel glad they didn't drop me mid-season after I cast a black cloud that distracted from the show. But that's just me.

Someone we all know and don't love will be missing from the next "Grey's Anatomy" cast photo: Isaiah Washington. TV Guide's Michael Ausiello is first to report that Washington would not be returning to the hit medical drama. The decision comes a full eight months after he had an on-set altercation with co-star Patrick Dempsey and refered to gay co-star T.R. Knight as a f****t." Then two months later, in a very bizarre moment, denied ever saying the gay slur while backstage at the Golden Globe Awards. He did a stint in gayhab (whatever that is), did some public service announcements, but it wasn't enough to save his job.
Washington’s rep Howard Bragman confirmed that Grey’s creator Shonda Rimes told Washington over the phone that he would not be invited back for the show's next season. Knight will return, it was announced yesterday, with a pay raise.

Can't say I'm sorry about this. Washington's behavior was absolutely obnoxious.

Some earlier posts:

- My Red Carpet Interview With Isaiah Washington

- Thoughts About the Other F-Word"

- Why a Standing Ovation for Isaiah?

- The Isaiah Washington Redemption Tour Begins...

Let me start off by saying to the conservative Illinois Review blog that pretending transgendered people don't exist won't make them go away so get a life! Via Towleroad.com, I have learned that this blog is taking issue with the makers of "Shrek the Third" for "promoting transgenderism" because of the movie's hilarious depiction of a manly stepsister.
It writes: "Shrek's not the problem. It's the awkward inclusion of a transvestite and the uselessness of the character himself (herself?) in the story that is troubling. Right in the midst of a warm 'traditional family' setting, the film writers place a man dressed as a woman in with Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Snow White (the good gals). The crossdressing character simply doesn't make sense, except as a ploy to desensitize children and parents to transgenders. Homosexual activists now are careful to not only use the term 'LGBTs' as a unit, they are more boldly now declaring lesbians-gays-bisexuals-transgenders as a unit pushing together as one for civil rights. Those confused about their sexual roles are pushing for equal rights to be free to publicly demonstrate their odd sexual behavior. For transgenders, appearing to be a different sex in public is their particular turn on. We need to understand that acceptance of this sexual behavior is just another step moving our world toward sexual chaos."

I can't BELIEVE the ignorance. And, as Towleroad correctly points out: transgender is different than transvestite!
Plus, we do not know whether the stepsister is transgendered. All we know is that she is very masculine.