In June of 2007, it was announced that Isaiah Washington’s character, Dr. Preston Burke, would not return after Grey’s Anatomy season 3. The news came as a shock as Washington was a lead character and the show was a huge hit. Grey’s Anatomy is one of the most popular shows in television history, has recently been renewed for its 18th season, and has won four Primetime Emmys. So why did Washington’s character leave Grey’s Anatomy?
Throughout Grey’s Anatomy’s first three seasons, Isaiah Washington played Preston, a cardiothoracic surgeon at Seattle Grace Hospital. While saving dozens of lives on the show, Burke also played boyfriend to Cristina Yang (played by Sandra Oh) and mentor to T. R. Knight’s George O’Malley as well as friend and colleague to the rest of the doctors and residents in the story. Burke’s character and Grey’s Anatomy’s Derek Shepherd (played by Patrick Dempsey) had a particular bond on the show, as both were leaders in their fields of medicine and dating residents (Derek was in a relationship with Ellen Pompeo’s Meredith Grey).
In Preston Burke’s last episode on Grey’s Anatomy season 3, “Didn’t We Almost Have It All,” he and Cristina were about to get married when Cristina had doubts. Burke left her at their wedding, and Cristina returned to Burke’s apartment to find him gone. However, the abrupt end for Burke’s character was not originally in the cards. It came after several months of fallout after a disagreement on set between Washington and fellow actor Patrick Dempsey in which Washington allegedly used a homophobic slur – something he denied was targeted at a fellow cast member.
Although Washington denies that the slur was in reference to fellow actor T.R. Knight (who exited Grey’s Anatomy with George’s death in season 6), multiple accounts claim that Washington used a derogatory term in association with Knight’s sexual preferences when arguing with Dempsey. It was subsequently revealed that the pair had got into a physical altercation on the set leading up to the outburst. Washington later explained (via Larry King Live) that he never called Knight an “F-word” but was telling co-star Dempsey not to treat him like an “F-word.” When asked what he meant by the term, if not about Knight, Washington said that, to him, the word meant someone who was “weak” or “a person who is not deserving of respect.” Washington issued an apology after the incident but came under fire again when he repeated the term in an interview at the Golden Globes several months later, replying to reporters who inquired about the Grey’s Anatomy on-set incident.
Following Washington’s remarks at the Golden Globes, ABC decided not to renew Washington’s contract and fired him from the show. Years later, in 2014, Washington’s character returned to Grey’s Anatomy for co-star Sandra Oh’s last episode, “We Are Never Getting Back Together.” Still, show creator and executive producer Shonda Rhimes stated that his return was only to bring closure to Cristina Yang’s storyline. The incident with Washington from 2006 has received new attention with the recent release of Lynette Rice’s book How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy, in which Patrick Dempsey’s on-set behavior has been called into question as well. Off the back of the release, Washington doubled down on comments about Dempsey, insisting that star Ellen Pompeo had been paid to keep the controversy quiet.
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