Views & Reviews From Writer Steve Miller
Formerly Reviews and Stuff at Rotten Tomatoes, 2005 - 2009.

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Friday, June 8, 2007

Free Advice for the Famous:
NEVER Apologize for 'Offending'

Between Isaiah Washington being hounded and fired for saying something stupid (and going FAR beyond what should be expected to make amends) and Don Imus also being hounded and fired for saying something stupid (and apologizing and kissing Al Sharpton's big, hairy ass to make amends), I think there is a lesson here a person in the public eye should take to heart. If you "offend" anyone and they raise a stink in the media, DON'T apologize.

In fact, the only response you should give is "Yeah, I said it. I'll say it again. Oh, and by the way, fuck you."


There's nothing you can say or do that will matter to these assholes walking around with chips on their shoulders. They will have your job, because they spend their days looking for reasons to be offended, and anything you say to molify them (even if you're being sincere, or subjecting yourself to public humliaiton by going to rehab and making TV spots) will only make them want to destroy you more. They're not going to accept apologies. You might as well go out with a bang and the satisfaction of giving them the finger.

LOS ANGELES (AP) - Isaiah Washington has lost his job on the hit ABC medical drama "Grey's Anatomy," five months after creating a furore with his use of an anti-gay slur.
Washington's contract option was not renewed for next season, series producer ABC Television Studios said Thursday.

"I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore," Washington said in a statement released through his publicist, Howard Bragman, without elaboration.

He drew fire after using the anti-gay epithet backstage at the Golden Globe Awards in January, while denying he'd used it previously on the set against cast mate T.R. Knight.

Gay rights groups and cast member Katherine Heigl, who publicly denounced Washington, were among his most vocal critics.

"This is something that will have changed the scope of his life," Heigl told Entertainment Weekly last month.

Washington was "sorry and embarrassed" for the mistake, she said.

Washington tried to make amends and said he was seeking therapy.

He also met with officials from the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network and the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation and filmed a public service announcement in which he said "words have power" to hurt or heal.

The May finale of "Grey's Anatomy" opened the door for the departure of his character. Burke was on the verge of marrying Dr. Cristina Yang (Sandra Oh), but her doubts at first delayed and then derailed their splashy wedding.

Later, Yang found Burke cleared out his favourite possessions from their apartment.

In May, Bragman said the actor intended to spend the summer working and not worrying about the show. Washington intended to continue his charity work in Sierra Leone, which a DNA test showed to be his ancestral home and work on an independent movie.

(By the way, I've never watched "Grey's Anatomy" and I've never understood why anyone would listen to Don Imus, but their treatment at the hands of "minorities" pisses me off, and it shows that we are entirely too quick to let ourselves to tyranized by hate-mongers. (And the hate-mongers here are not Washington and Imus.)

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