T.R. Knight Says Isaiah Washington Did Call Me a Faggot

Grey’s Anatomy star T.R. Knight whined on Wednesday’s episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show that costar Isaiah Washington did, in fact, call him a “faggot” during an on-set fight.

It was reported in October that Washington used the slur against Knight in front of the cast and crew while arguing with fellow cast member Patrick Dempsey.

“He referred to me as a faggot,” Knight confirmed on DeGeneres’ morning talk show. “Everyone heard it.”

Knight has mainly been silent on the incident, but decided to set the record straight after Washington tried to deny the October episode in the Golden Globes pressroom Monday night. "I did not call T.R. a faggot," he said. "Never happened, never happened." See the video here.

After speaking in the press room, Washington denied it again to Access Hollywood. "There is no way I could do anything so vile, and so horrible, not only to a castmate, but to a fellow human being," he said. "It did not happen.”

But Knight tells another story on DeGeneres.

The talk show host said Wednesday, “And then the other night at the Golden Globes, I guess Isaiah Washington is starting up the whole thing up again, which is kind of crazy.”

"Yeah, he denied that he said it [faggot]," Knight responded, “and I don’t know what to say about it but it’s pretty bad.”

Washington’s press room denial also infuriated Grey’s cast member Katherine Heigl, who reproached her costar during an interview with Access Hollywood Monday night.

"I’m going to be really honest right now: He needs to just not speak in public. Period. I’m sorry, that did not need to be said, I’m not OK with it."

"I have no idea what it was, I just find it hurtful,” she told Access. “I don’t think he [Washington] means it the way he comes off….But T.R. is my best friend. I will throw down for that kid. I will beat you up. I will use every ounce of energy I have to take you down if you hurt his feelings."

***Editorial***

I read Gay blogs everyday to make sure I’m not missing anything, and I see the words faggot, lesbo, lesbot, homo, and many more derogatory gay words used by gays every single day. This is exactly what blacks say about the word nigger. Blacks say the word nigger can only be used by them, and so it seems the gays are saying the same thing. I doubt anyone really knows what the word faggot means or even nigger for that matter. Most people assume faggot means gay man, and nigger means black man, but they don’t understand exactly why it is derogatory. A person’s intent is the most important factor in determining how to react. It appears that if Washington used the term faggot, that he meant someone who will do what Dempsey wants. It seems to me that Washington’s understanding of faggot is that of a gay man who will do what you want, like when someone says he’s your bitch (which is a female dog). Gays bash heterosexuals everyday on their blogs, and publicly all the time, but no one seems to really care. If it will get attention then someone like Knight will whine about how hurt he was, but I don’t buy it at all. It’s hard to have sympathy when the word is used daily by gays themselves. I think this is a huge over reaction, and a nonissue. When gays come out against heterosexual bashing, and against attacks on heterosexual culture and institutions, then I will have sympathy. Until then I won’t support a double standard.

The first reaction of gays to commentary like the one above is to attack me for denouncing gay hatred and attacks of heterosexuals. I don’t hate gays, and I don’t appreciate gay hatred towards heterosexuals. I don’t approve of any kind of hatred or intolerance. However, I cannot tolerate intolerance that gays show towards heterosexuals. I’m not saying all gays do it, but it is common these days, and no one speaks out to stop the heterosexual bashing, so I’m saying something. I know gays reading this article will ignore the education portion to follow enlightening readers to the meaning of the word faggot, and want to leave me nasty comments. Save your comments for someone who is intolerant like other gays that use the word faggot, or bash heterosexuals, or anyone for that matter who is racist or intolerant. I am intolerant of those that preach tolerance, but are intolerant of those they complain about, such as gays that bash heterosexuals just because they are heterosexuals, or gays that use the word faggot, and then complain that others are using that word towards them. The only way to stop the use of the word faggot is to get people to stop saying it, and that’s not going to happen if gays themselves keep the word faggot alive. I have no sympathy for gays that complain about the use of the word faggot when they even call each other that word. That is hypocrisy.

To make sure the word faggot is better understood I include the following information:

Faggot (epithet), a derogatory term for a gay or effeminate man
Faggot (wood), a bundle of sticks or branches
Faggots (novel), a novel by Larry Kramer
Faggot (unit of measurement), an archaic unit of measurement
Fagot (pronounced with a silent T), the NATO reporting name for the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 airplane
Faggot (food), a British pork meatball
Fagot(to), the name in many languages of the musical instrument bassoon

The primary traditional meaning of the word, especially common in Wales and the Black Country, is a kind of pork meatball covered in gravy. See Faggot (food). The use of fag and faggot to mean homosexual have become understood as an Americanism in British English, primarily due to their use in films and television series imported from the United States. Thanks Hollywood.

"Fag" and "faggot" have historically been two of the most offensive terms that could be addressed to an American man or adolescent boy. Even so, in recent years, both terms have become employed by gay men in a defiant, self-consciously empowering or self-mocking way, much in the way some African Americans have taken to using the word "nigger" among themselves. A common example of this would be usage of the term "fag hag" to describe a woman who associates with (and may prefer as non-sexual social partners) gay men, though this use, too, was originally pejorative. When used as a pejorative, however, it is still a powerful term of abuse. The term is often used by young people as a synonym for words such as jerk (i.e. "What a jerk!" becomes "What a faggot!"). Among many gay men, use of the term (especially by perceived outsiders) is considered offensive or impolite. The term has been used to describe lesbians or other homosexual women.

Originally confined to the United States, the homosexual sense of "fag" and "faggot" has been spread by American popular culture to other English-speaking countries, where it has partly displaced terms such as "queer" or the British "poof" as colloquial or abusive terms for gay men, particularly among heterosexual youth. However, the continuing use of "fag" and "faggot" with other meanings in the British isles has severely
limited adoption of the American usage there.

The word faggot is occasionally used in parts of Britain to denote a silly or foolish person, presumably as an extension of its earlier association with old women. In the pilot episode of the 1960s British comedy In Loving Memory from Yorkshire Television, undertaker Jeremiah Unsworth is killed in an accident at work. After the funeral, widow Ivy receives the condolences of her old friend Amy Jenkins, who says, "He heard the call. He answered it. And he fell in the line of duty. No man can ask for a better epitaph than that." Ivy thanks her, says good-bye, and then turns to her nephew, Billy, as soon as the door is shut and says in reference to Amy, "Silly old faggot! ’He heard the call?’ ’He answered it?’ The only call your Uncle Jeremiah ever heard was, ’Time, Gentlemen, please!’."

The origins of the word in this sense are rather obscure.

It is often claimed that the derivation is associated directly with faggot meaning "bundle of sticks for burning", since homosexuals were supposedly burnt at the stake in medieval England. More accurately, they were doused in fuel and used in place of sticks for the burning of supposed witches (Fone, Byrne., Homophobia 2000). However, this practice ended centuries before the word faggot became associated with gay people. This does not rule out the association of gay men with the word ’faggot’ occuring because of this historical practice. The ability to label homosexuals ’faggots’ in hindsight of the practice of using homosexuals as fuel to burn ’witches’ in the Middle Ages cannot be ruled out. In this sense the epithet can be incredibly offensive, equating the value of the person so-called to lower than a reviled person that one would like to burn at the stake, in fact their value is only as fuel to burn the object of their revulsion.

The word has also been used since the late sixteenth century to mean "old or unpleasant woman". Female terms are often used with reference to homosexual or effeminate men (cf. nancy, sissy, queen). However, why the word ’faggot’ would be used to describe an old women has not been explained. This too may be in reference to the witch hunts in which old women were particularly targeted.

The Yiddish word faygele, lit. "little bird", is claimed by some as the origin of the word. The difference in form between the two words makes this unlikely to be true, although it may have had a reinforcing effect.