Washington blames racism for Grey's firing

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

Former Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington said racism was a factor in his firing from the hit ABC series after he twice used an anti-gay slur.

Washington, who initially used the epithet during an onset clash with a co-star, told Newsweek magazine that "someone heard the booming voice of a black man and got really scared and that was the beginning of the end for me."

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For a white guy, I think of myself as being fairly progressive on race, trying as often as I can to give the benefit of the doubt to anyone claiming to be the victim of racism. After all, most white people really know nothing of the strange dynamics of contemporary American racism, and it's just too darned easy to say "bullshit" when discrimination isn't completely obvious. But I'm saying "bullshit" on this one. It wasn't the "booming voice of a black man" that got Washington canned; it was the booming voice of homophobic hate that did it. Without any real evidence to support his claim of racism, Washington's allegations should be dismissed as the whinings of an eternally-adolescent man who refuses to take responsibility for his actions.

Even though racism is a very pervasive and real problem, it's not always about race, and this guy's bullshit does great disservice to people who are trying to make white Americans aware of how bad things really are.

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