Greys Anatomy

Isiah Washington a black male cast member of the very popular show Greys Anatomy which I will admit to not watching has come under fire recently for calling another member of the cast a F word. It was then blown up into a life of it's own, even Ellen got in to the act by having the white gay guy the comment was directed at on the show to confirm it.Now every ones calling for Isiah's firing and saying this is the most horrible thing ever. I'm not saying name calling is right but where is the equal coverage and out rage at the black faced Shirley Q Liquor a white gay male who dresses up as a so called black welfare mother of nineteen children and performs for these same white males who are out protesting for Washington to be fired. If these guys were so concerned about political correctness why are they paying to see shows like this.

I will say that the f word is thrown around way to causally in the black community as is bulldyke and the N word.It has become for better or worst part of our culture in the sense it really does not create the great outrage that this uproar has caused elsewhere.The oppression that African Americans have lived and still live under continues to manifest itself in this and so many other ways in to many circles. Still how does a personal spat turn in to national witch hunt. Even the very public friend of Seinfeld who went after his audience wasn't threaten with not being able to make a living. In my opinion Mr Washington as a public figure needs to become more aware that his comments are open for public discussion and since he has apologized be left to sort out his own sense of right and wrong while learning to deal with diverse coworkers. Every black child has been taught to watch their P's and Q's in public and if you can't just be smart enough to stay quiet, maybe Isaiah needs to take that road.I don't know what spurred the spat in the first place and so I won't take sides or excuse either for letting it come to this. American on the other hand needs to stop making blacks the ultimate demons when one seems to falls out of acceptable behavior and admit to it's double standard.What a shame for one of the few black writers in hollywood that has created a show for the masses and a black woman at that. Now she has been put in the position of soothing things over and trying to keeping the decision makers happy. Can a sister ever get enough of a break to enjoy success.


This is what blogger Jasmyne Cannick had to say about it

"After 24 hours of protest by white gay America towards “Grey’s Anatomy” star Isaiah Washington after accusations from fellow gay co-actor T.R. Knight of Washington referring to him as the f-word and Washington’s mistake of using the word at a press conference at the Golden Globes, the gays have won. In an editorial I penned yesterday, I referred to the protest as something that reminds of 1876 in the Deep South, when a white woman would scream rape at the hands of a Black man, and that Black man was then dragged out of his home into the middle of the night and beaten and lynched by an angry white mob without any proof or evidence, just the word of his accuser. It was another case of guilty until proven innocent.
At the end of the day, the issue for me and many Black Americans was the fact that in the beginning this was the issue of one man’s word against another and without any further evidence, all of white gay America pounced on Washington defending their beloved Knight.
But for the most part that’s the way it always goes.
And in the end, as I said yesterday, Isaiah was wrong for using the word at the Golden Globes, he could have said “the f-word” instead of repeating the entire slur again. However, it really didn’t matter because the gay mafia’s wheels were in motion and they smelled meat, dark meat. And whether Isaiah apologized or not, it was all down hill for him anyway. Once you’re labeled as a homophobe in the entertainment industry it’s pretty hard to shake that wrap.
But something about this whole thing reeks of white privilege, gay power, and what I commonly refer to as the hypocrisy of white gay America.
The gay mafia didn’t have a problem defending their pretty boy Knight whose career will probably sky rocket now that’s he’s out of the closet. However, at the same time, there’s been no protest launched against Charles Knipp, a white gay man who dresses up in blackface as a character he calls Shirley Q. Liquor and describes as an “inarticulate Black women on welfare with 19 kids.”
Set to perform during Black History Month in West Hollywood, this self-described comic has built an entire career of promoting the most negative and vicious stereotypes of Blacks, in particular Black women. In broken English, Liquor makes comments like “axe your mamma how she durrin” and misuses words like “ignunt.” Knipp mocks the Black American holiday Kwanzaa and makes fun of stereotypical Black names in a music video entitled, “Who Is My Baby’s Daddy?,” even going as far as to use sexually transmitted diseases as names of Black children. Knipp’s characterizations of Black woman played out on stage in city after city are ones that portray Black women as being on welfare, living in the projects, illiterate, sexually promiscuous mothers who don’t know who their children’s fathers are, alcoholics, and drug addicts.
But let’s look a bit closer at the hypocrisy I spoke of.
I already mentioned that the gay mafia has said nothing about Knipp, but do you want to know why? Because they’re the ones responsible for selling out his shows as he tours around the country.
Knipp doesn’t bring his shows to the people he’s degrading. No, he books his shows in white gay Mecca’s like L.A.’s West Hollywood, New York’s Chelsea District, San Francisco’s Castro District.
So let me get this straight, no pun intended, it’s not ok for the Black guy to use the f-word, but it is ok for the white gay guy to dress up in blackface and perform parodies that mock Blacks.
I once made the comment that if Knipp were making fun of Jews his act would have been canceled a long time ago, but I think I’ll change that to include gays as well given the recent incident with Washington.
I learned a long time ago that as a Black lesbian, my place was with Blacks. The same racism and classism issues that exists between Blacks and whites in general, applies to the gay community as well. I may have issues with the occasional homophobic Black pastor or rapper, but at the end of the day, we as Blacks know what discrimination and racism is because we’ve dealt with it all of our lives. So when it happens, we can call it out. Unfortunately, when it comes to the gay community, if it’s not affecting their rosy white lives, then they couldn’t give a damn. But hey, isn’t that what white privilege is all about? "