05/24/2007
Isaiah Washington Anti-Hate PSA to Debut Tonight
A public service announcement featuring Isaiah Washington that is the result of meetings the actor had with GLAAD's Neil Giuliano and GLSEN's Kevin Jennings after Washington's repeated public use of the word "faggot" last January will air during back-to-back episodes of Grey's Anatomy tonight.
In the PSA, Washington says, “Words have power. The power to express love, happiness and joy. They also have the power to heal. When you use words that demean a person because of their sexual orientation, race or gender, you send a message of hate. A very powerful message. But we all have the power to demand better from one another and from ourselves. We have the power to heal and change the world by the words we use.”
Said Giuliano: “Words have power, and far too often we see them used to dehumanize people because of our differences. When Isaiah Washington lends his voice to that message — when he acknowledges the personal responsibility that he and each of us have to create a culture that rejects prejudice — it advances the kind of dialogue that’s absolutely essential to changing hearts and minds. We are gratified that with this PSA, ABC will be sharing this vital message with millions of viewers in the days and weeks to come.”
Added Jennings: “As an education organization, GLSEN believes in the power of the teachable moment. While there is no excuse for the use of this kind of language, we welcome the opportunity to use this incident to educate millions about the impact of name-calling on young people. We are grateful to ABC for bringing GLSEN’s message of respect to millions of households.”
Grey's Anatomy is on ABC from 9-11 tonight.
There has been much speculation in recent days on whether Isaiah Washington's character Dr. Burke will be returning to the show next season, with the Ny Post reporting that he won't be a regular but will return "possibly for a few episodes."
Towleroad contacted Washington's rep Howard Bragman for confirmation, and all he would say is that he stood by comments he made to the Associated Press last week, which were: "We fully expect to be back in the fall. The deal's not done but we have no reason to believe he won't be putting on the scrubs."
Bragman's comments don't necessarily contradict the report from the NY Post, so I guess we'll have to wait and see.
The season finale of Grey's aired last week, and appeared to clear the way for Burke's possible departure from the show. I do wonder why these PSAs were not aired during the season finale when they could have been exposed to a much larger audience.
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Posted 9:40 AM EST by Andy Towle in Gay Slurs, Isaiah Washington, News, Television | Permalink
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THIS is what we get from the MILLIONS of dollars collected by GLAAD and during REPEAT Week of a holiday weekend....OK sure lets take the crumbs.
Please Sir can I have some more....
Posted by: MCnNYC | May 24, 2007 6:08:27 PM
00000 that girl was dirty little permiscous whore like Duke, ,Kobe, Acess Holywoods interviewees, rebecca loos, jude laws nanny, every girl who said she felt used b y Girls Gone Wild and seeing as everyone is bi sexual to a point id be gay if i was'nt a gir. There skanks at all ages.
Alec Baldwin was frustrated
Forget race people say the most hurtful thing possible to a specofoc person can be grouped that was not their intent
do you hate all fat people no bu t you used it as a n insult o nce
Posted by: sasha | May 24, 2007 8:25:20 PM
The only thing I have to say is that what he said was wrong and he is trying to right it with GLAAD's help, but, to see a poster throw out the n-word at other posters is far worse to me. The hatred and intolerance in this country it seems isn't limited to a black homophobe, but, quite a few white gay racists, since the post is still up, an few have called the jerk out for it.
Posted by: Sandy | May 24, 2007 9:01:36 PM
Sandy, we know a flame bomb when we see one and many of us have learned to not feed the trolls that throw them.
Trust me, I'll ALWAYS have the backs of my friends Derrick from Philly and Soulbrotha, just as they've had mine. I'm certain that they know this.
Soulbrotha took the words out of my mouth in his response to Otto. I couldn't have improved on it.
Don't feed them and they will wither away.
Posted by: Zeke | May 24, 2007 11:05:11 PM
Sasha, don't drink and drivel.
Posted by: 000000 | May 24, 2007 11:39:18 PM
Getting back to the venom I previously ignored, it's pretty telling, the way Towle lets all sorts of lewd epithets get slung at people here. With all the posts about intolerance from others like conservatives and evil Jamaicans, there seems to be ample hatred tolerated on his own blog. All the more reason why that invite to the Gansevoort was laughable. I don't go to the real white party, so what would I get out of that one? Ignore the "flame bomb," Zeke? Excuse me, but 9 hours later I still see the fire. When the fuck is Towle going to put it out?
Posted by: 000000 | May 24, 2007 11:51:59 PM
Zeke, I have been reading your posts today, you are very eloquent, and stand your ground, however, it is sad that the owner of this blog allows racism to be spewed. Sure, its a public forum, but, there should be someway to keep the vulgar racicts off, since in the eyes of many, gay is sick, be in with black skin, white or brown. Trolls seldom go away, they just keep spewing, ignored or not.
I don't come here often, but, I enjoy the topics when I do as he covers a broad specturm of things, but, to see someone call some one a racist slur is not good from my point of view, and hopefully Andy will figure out some way to halt it.
Posted by: margret | May 25, 2007 12:06:33 AM
Certain posters always seem to defend bigots if their skin color matches their own.
Posted by: Mike | May 25, 2007 6:51:03 AM
Andy doesn't have the time to monitor and police every discussion or to referee every cat fight in these forums. I've said this over and over. If you are offended by something someone has said go to the top right hand corner of the main page and click on "send a tip". It will take you directly to Andy's email. Tell him the problem and TRUST ME he will take care of it. Every time I have ever contacted him with a flame throwing troll, he has taken action, removed the comment and banned the poster. It seems that I am the only person who does this. It's not my job to be the soul monitor of the discussions here. I don't want to be the exclusive tattle tale of Towleroad.
Try it for yourself. Copy the offending comments, email Andy through "send a tip" and ask him POLITELY and CIVILY to remove the comment. You might be surprised with how this man that you've so disparaged will react.
I find it very offensive that people come to Andy's site and bitch about how he maintains it without giving one moment's thought as to how much time and energy goes into the basic operation and maintenance of such a site; MUCH LESS how much time it would take for one or two people to monitor each and every comment ever posted WHILE continuing to do the work required to make Towleroad the site that most of us love and appreciate.
If you haven't contacted Andy directly with your concerns then you are TOTALLY out of line attacking him here in this forum.
Posted by: Zeke | May 25, 2007 8:18:55 AM
A flame bomb alert has been sent directly to Andy.
Posted by: Zeke | May 25, 2007 8:38:24 AM
Make that "sole" monitor. Though I don't want to be the "soul" monitor either.
Posted by: Zeke | May 25, 2007 8:45:24 AM
thank you Zeke. I understand that sometimes these threads get extremely inflammatory. Unfortunately, I don't have time to personally monitor all of the nearly 6000 posts that have been written on Towleroad, so I rely on people emailing me when there is something that requires removal.
I apologize for not getting to this sooner. I can see that many people were upset by it.
In the future, please contact me using the email link at the top of the site, and, try not to feed the trolls.
Thank you for creating a lively (and hopefully civil) discussion.
Posted by: andy | May 25, 2007 8:55:49 AM
It's just that simple.
Thank you Andy.
Posted by: Zeke | May 25, 2007 10:30:34 AM
Margaret, I understand how you feel when you read some of the racially charged comments, but this is one of the most intelligent, fairly administered, welcoming to everyone, blogs I've run across (that's why I keep blabbin' my big mouth on it). I've gotten use to some of the anti-black posters and what they have to say, and, yes, they have a right to say it...dammit! It is thoughtful posters like Zeke, Leland, SGR, Soulbrotha, GBM, and of course, the sexy PACIFICOCEANBOY that keep me coming back here to read intelligent gay folks' opinions. In fact, if my employer ever finds out how much time I spend on Andy's, Keith's, Jasmyne's, and Rod's blogs...well, I'll be sittin' out on Market Street with a cup in my hand ('cause I aint got nothin' decent to work the street corners with no mo').
Mike, Mike, Mike--if Tim Hardaway, Bernice King, and all these homophobic fat-assed, in the closet black preachers were to drop dead today, I couldn't care less. So much for suppporting anti-gay bigots of my own race.
They're also very patient with bad grammar, spelling, and punctuation. They nice folks here.
Posted by: Derrick from Philly (supporter of black bigots?) | May 25, 2007 10:31:39 AM
Hot damn, the irony is staggering. People were bitching because Washington didn't get a public flogging. Now the user of a racial slur who could have had his entire posting history removed still has privileges, with evidence to boot. But there's "time" to tell me the shape and consistency of Gyllenhaal's last stool sample. Subsequently the term "full of shit" comes to mind.
Posted by: 00000 | May 25, 2007 12:44:44 PM
I'd like to comment on Isaiah Washington's PSA. To put bluntly,I think it's all just a little too late and considrig his joking about it at the awards show seems a insincere. Why does he still have a job on the show. If T.R. Knight had called him the "N" word he would have een fired so fast it would have made his pretty little head spin. Personally that's why I've quit watcing the show. Which is bad because I think T.R. is a doll and I miss seeing him each week.
Posted by: Charles Clemmons | May 27, 2007 3:54:05 PM