Grey's Anatomy: When Victim Groups Collide
Sunday, June 10, 2007

I don't own a television.

I don't watch "Grey's Anatomy." I could if I wanted to, but I don't.

I've read a basic outline of the show's plot. It is a mixed-cast soap opera, based in a hospital, where a number of men (black and white) have the hots for a very plain looking, squinty eyed, boney brunette. I think a number of them are interns.

So this is "ER", with a different slant. You know, where everybody is f***ing each other like "Friends." Since I don't like shows like that, I figure I'm not missing much.

Alrighty then, onto the drama amongst the fighting cast members. Isaiah Washington (IW) said a naughty (okay derogatory) word about another cast member, T.R. Knight (TKK). Then, in a moment of sheer utter stupidity, at an awards show IW said he never called TKK that word.

Wow. Can you say clueless?

Well, to make matters worse, as if they weren't bad enough, one cast member in particular, Katherine Heigl (KH), decided she had it in for IW. Because according to her, TKK was her friend and needed her support. (Smart move girl: great way to put yourself in the middle of the drama.)

IW was sent to rehab, maybe he apologized for being dysfunctional and it seemed that he was coming back. His boss, a black woman named Shonda Rhimes (SR) who created this show along with a half dozen other people, claimed he was staying.

The identity of the show's creator had me asking myself: Did IW act up, because he thought SR would back him? Was the bully behavior of calling another man a nasty name something he thought defensible?

I don't know what IW was on, did he do a bizarre calculation where because your boss is a black female and the target of your slur is a gay man, you would win that struggle? Is that because if you see yourself atop the victim hierarchy others would fall into line?

I saw this in terms (among other things) as who gets to be the most vulnerable victim of all victims. Now, I know IW wasn't the injured party, but I think he saw himself as one. Hence, the strange denials along the way.

He should have known to keep his mouth shut when KH started in on his case. I wasn't surprised he was canned. I am sure at KH's inital insistance, everyone was like, "Who is this chick?"

However, based on the tally from her recent hit flick "Knocked Up" the powers-that-be-said, "He's gotta go!" Since she's now a bona fide star - with power - she got her wish.

So, let this be a lesson, don't call others bad names when you're working with them - always curse them off work site and privately. Otherwise, you will be fired and being part of a politically protected victim group doesn't ensure immunity.

Labels: black men, black women, gays, Grey's Anatomy, Knocked Up, television, victims

posted by GoldenAh
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