Grey's Anatomy casualty Isaiah Washington certainly hasn't been keeping quiet about his unceremonious shitcanning from the ABC series, having repeatedly broken his silence on the subject, clarified his silence-breaking, and further appended those clarifications to any news outlet still interested in listening. Until now, the target of his fury was gay mastermind T.R. Knight, whom he had accused of single-handedly orchestrating one of the most ingenious behind-the-scenes power plays in recent, horny-doctor-drama history. In an exclusive interview with Newsweek, however, Washington reveals how nothing in this workplace disaster was what it seemed:

Former Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington has been devoting a good portion of his newly cleared schedule to the granting of angry, uncensored interviews, in which he connects the not-so-obvious dots to help us better see T.R. Knight as the Machiavellian, closet-exiting opportunist he truly is. And while the natural impulse for most of us would be to set up folding chairs in order to take in one of the most spectacular career-immolations in recent memory, Washington is quick to point out to EW that the offers have been flooding in since Dr. Burke's untimely demise:

Breaking his silence about his controversial firing from Grey's Anatomy for at least the third time in the two weeks since ABC made showrunner Shonda Rhimes do their dirty work, Isaiah Washington granted an exclusive interview with KeithBoykin.com, further elaborating on yesterday's Houston Chronicle air-clearing about nemesis T.R. Knight's alleged role in orchestrating the actor's dismissal from TV's top-rated, hot-doctors-getting-it-on drama. Said Washington about Knight's behind-the-scenes machinations on the Grey's set:

Feeling, perhaps, that a single, lesbian-authored petition that lumped him in the same ABC discard pile as Star Jones would hardly be sufficient to clear his good name, Isaiah Washington has finally taken the business of salvaging his reputation into his own hands—and in the process, shed some light on what exactly it was he was referring to in his now-legendary, post-axing battle cry, "I'm mad as hell and not going to take anymore." In an interview yesterday with the Houston Chronicle, Washington outlined his side of the story, describing the actions of an ambitious young actor, who leaped upon an offensive word regrettably uttered during a set dispute and rode the six-letter missile to new heights of stardom:

While Isaiah Washington's dishonorable discharge from Grey's Anatomy may have been greeted with silent, satisfied approval from a significant portion of Hollywood's velvet community—comforted in the knowledge that their telekinetic Gay Death Rays were still functioning at maximum, career-annihilating capacity—other members of the LGBT community were less than pleased with the outcome. Lesbian and African American blogger Jasmyne Cannick, for example, strongly feels Washington's termination was just the latest example of a racist shitcanning trend emerging at ABC:

Readers of the hard-copy of today's Variety were greeted by a promotional cover needily advocating the Emmy-worthiness of the entire Grey's Anatomy ensemble, including recovering castectomy patient Isaiah Washington, whose vaguely menacing photo is separated from that of nemesis T.R. Knight by a five-actor buffer.

As Isaiah Washington processes the complex feelings about his high-profile axing from Grey's Anatomy, downgrading himself from "mad as hell and not going to take it anymore," to the far more reasonable, "saddened, but will gladly work with the powers that be to see if there isn't some third solution out there that better suits everyone's interests," questions still linger as to who ordered the whacking and when. According to an AP report, it was not the decision of Grey's showrunner Shonda Rhimes—who "wept" when she made the call on Thursday—but rather a troika of high-ranking ABC studio and network execs:

"Breaking the silence" he's maintained since his firing from Grey's Anatomy (it's hard to pinpoint the exact moment ABC knew they had to let him go, but our guess would be that once they saw tirade victim T.R. Knight draped with a feeble Labrador on the cover of The Advocate, his fate was sealed), former TV doctor Isaiah Washington opens up to EW, elaborating on the complicated, post-shitcanning emotions insufficiently evoked by his ominous "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" public statement and his flack Howard Bragman's outraged, "kicked in the gut" follow-up. Washington expresses frustration that his successful completion of the apology/gayhab/PSA gauntlet jointly designed for him by his publicist, GLAAD, and the network was not enough to save his job, and discusses the reaction (and non-reactions) of his showrunner and castmates:

Isaiah Washington's 12-word response to his firing—"I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anymore!"—hinted ominously that the newly downsized actor had retaliatory measures in mind. In one of a number of disturbing scenarios, we imagine the actor silently stalking the halls of ABC, picking off random receptionists, assistants, and executives with the most bigoted, spittle-flecked invectives he could muster, before ultimately turning the slurs onto himself. Howard Bragman, the actor's publicist, tries to explain Washington's seething rage at having lost his job after submitting to every demeaning stipulation ordered by his superiors:

In the end, not even a beautifully acted public service announcement about the power of words to hurt homosexual castmates who displease fiery, intolerant performers, nor an impassioned plea to become gay himself, were enough to save embattled Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington's job, as ABC Studios decided yesterday not to invite the mercurial Dr. McChokey back for another season. Through his publicist, the actor reacted to his dismissal by quoting Network, saying, (and this, bizarrely, is not something we made up—don't people have publicist to stop them from doing things like this?) "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," a cryptic expression of frustration and rage that has us vaguely worried that a slur-flinging rampage could be in the offing; victim/tormentor T.R. Knight would probably be smart to use some of his generous raise to get out of town for a little while, until Washington's anger over the loss of a steady paycheck subsides.

Grey's Anatomy's T.R. Knight, who reluctantly found himself the face of a new generation of TV actors forced to openly acknowledge their sexuality after a meanie co-star with a toilet mouth and nasty temper called them a bad word during a Hollywood workplace fracas, has stated that he was in the dark regarding his fate on the show. Similarly, gayhabbed nemesis Isaiah Washington—recent star of his very own "don't call people epithets, it hurts their feelings" PSA—was also questioning whether his services would again be required at Seattle Grace, especially after the season-ending cliffhanger had him skipping town. Cast members have recently said they were confident everyone would return—something EW.com confirms today through a well-placed source:

A Defamer operative who shall remain nameless so that he won't suffer the public humiliation of admitting that he was perusing the official ABC website for Desperate Housewives (which, much to our bafflement, continues to exist on the schedule despite its removal from our DVR season pass list three episodes into the second season—doesn't hitting the delete button send an immediate cancellation notice to Steve McPherson?) pointed us to this curiously blank "About" page, which seems to indicate that someone expects multiple Emmys are coming in mid-September. We suppose it's possible that the space is intended to recognize the show's former winners, but we prefer to think that its producers are boldly servicing notice to the hyberverbal bitches of Grey's Anatomy, who've been hogging the network spotlight for far too long.

Potty-mouthed actor Isaiah Washington currently awaits a call from his agent that will determine whether or not he will continue to show up to the Grey's Anatomy set every day, carrying a warm smile and a box of Sprinkles cupcakes for his co-workers. (It's a small, peacemaking gesture, meant to say, "How could I possibly hate Gays when I come bearing cupcakes—the gayest dessert there is!") In the meantime, you can enjoy what might be your last rendezvous with Dr. Preston Burke as a series regular tonight on the Grey's finale, during which the actor's GLAAD-mandated PSA will run. GLAAD's website offers a preview of the spot, which contains in its call for a choke-free, homoinclusive society the following quote: "When you use words that demean a person because of their sexual orientation, race or gender, you send a message of hate." The spot is truly a master class in "sincerity for the camera," and perhaps the actor's most stirring statement on the matter since a moment of publicist-unassisted damage control inspired him to announce, "I love gay. I wanted to be gay. Please let me be gay!"

With an impending phone call from his agent regarding his future on hit ABC medical drama Grey's Anatomy the only thing keeping actor T.R. Knight from reaching his Summer '07 goal of shedding a headful of Manic-Panic-tinted hair, the fate of recently gayhabbed co-star and verbal tormentor Isaiah Washington is equally up in the air. According to the Us Weekly blog, things aren't looking good for Dr. Burke:

As Grey's Anatomy star and Advocate coverboy T.R. Knight gradually morphs into the New Face of Hollywood Gay Pride—less rainbow Spandex and Mardi Gras beads, more begrudging acknowledgments of one's predisposition towards men and appearances on Ellen to tattle on one's homorageoholic co-star—the actor's fate on the series that made him famous is still up in the air. Asked by Access Hollywood if his contract has been renewed, Knight said:

AfterElton.com has more from the upcoming Advocate cover story featuring reluctant gay hero T.R. Knight: Pressed for his take on what we will heretofore refer to only as The Incident, the actor avoided directly attacking the actions of slur-slinging nemesis Isaiah Washington, as well as seemingly unsympathetic showrunner Shonda Rhymes, choosing instead to answer an entirely different set of innocuous questions that existed only in his own mind:

As our fair coastal city and its archipelagos are consumed in brimstone-free hellfires, we here at Defamer continue in our commitment to bringing you disaster coverage from the only angle that matters: How does it affect celebrities? We already reported on the courageous actions of impromptu evacuation coordinator Kirstie Alley, who is currently propping a tanning reflector beneath her chin on the lido deck of a Sea Org vessel hundreds of miles from shore, where she'll stay until it's deemed safe to return to dry land. Today, we have the even more incredible tale of Steven W. Bailey, who appears on Grey's Anatomy as Joe the bartender, and may also be familiar to you as My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance's, uh, big, fat, obnoxious fiance:

Because T.R. Knight's personal journey from fresh-faced actor, to innocent slur victim, to tireless crusader for bullied gay TV stars' rights only grows more fascinating the more he talks about it, we turn now to the upcoming issue of The Advocate, which features the accidental hero on their cover. (And upon which he demonstrates even further signs of saintliness by acting as full-time caregiver to the quadriplegic canine companion co-star Katherine Heigl adopted for him.) As is so often the case in tales of Hollywood closet-emergence, Knight was discouraged from coming clean with the world so soon after his big break:

Embattled Grey's Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington may have appeared to have mostly recovered from his rageoholic ways as he gawked sweetly at swollen testicles on a recent episode (ABC's claiming it was the guy's head, but—paging Dr. McFreudy—we still see a pair of hairy cantaloupes), but apparently his gayhab work is not yet done:

· Variety remembers recently deceased MPAA legend Jack Valenti, calling him "colorful," "charismatic," a "prime mover behind the movie ratings system," and the "industry's most ardent cheerleader." Also: "The silver-haired Valenti was a natty dresser and courtly gentleman who enjoyed using five-dollar words and arcane historical and literary allusions as he spoke out on numerous issues, all of which seemed to get him into a high lather." [Variety]
· The Reporter remembers Valenti as an "eloquent, high-level power broker" and recalls the "hump the hostess" anecdote of which we're so fond. [THR]
· In other Valenti news: His memoir, This Time, This Place, will still be released on June 5th, as planned. [Variety]
· American Idol fans overlook the show's unspeakably inhumane gotcha! prank on eventual winner Jordin Sparks, donating $60 million to its Idol Gives Back charity drive so far. [THR]
· ABC rides a penis worm and a set of giant, deformed balls to a Thursday night win to kick off May sweeps. [Variety]