Actor and Fox Nation host Isaiah Washington has said that he is tired of being associated with his former role on the hit-TV drama "Grey's Anatomy," but that is not to say that he did not come away from the show-- and the controversy that eventually lead to his firing--without learning a valuable lesson.
"The story was a lie and misconstrued. But as a family guy, a father, I thought I was helping the family," said Washington on the Fox Nation series "Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk," explaining why he decided to publicly apologize for an incident that occurred on the set of "Grey's Anatomy" in 2006.
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Washington was reportedly accused of using a homophobic slur, directed at a co-star, who was not present at the time. The ensuing controversy resulted in the elimination of his character from the series.
Washington revealed that he spoke to Democratic California Congresswoman Barbara Lee about the incident before he lost his job.
"She said, 'You don't get it. You're going down,'" recalled Washington, who said that ABC representatives asked him to make a formal apology and refrain from speaking about the event.
"She said, 'You need to resign and you need to resign yesterday,'" he continued, remembering their conversation.
"That's why I'll never apologize again -- to this day," said Washington. "That's why Trump doesn't apologize, because when you apologize for something then that it is admitted to wrong -- doing something wrong. I did nothing wrong."
In the new series "Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk," Washington sits down with a wide range of celebrities, influencers, and public figures to share intimate conversations in the kitchen and at the table.
In this episode, Washington spoke to George Papadopoulos, who has had his own extensive experience with alleged set-ups and negative media backlash, and is a former member of the foreign policy advisory panel to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign.
"I knew what was happening," said Papadopoulos, who became a focus of the FBI's investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government. "I knew it was a setup. All that narrative that was being created in the media."
Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017 and served 12 days in jail.
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"The guy that I saw on TV as I was sitting on the couch with my girlfriend," said Papadopoulos, reflecting on the media's coverage of this case, "I said, 'Who is that guy?'"
"I say to this day," said Washington. "If I ever meet the 'Isaiah Washington' that they are talking about on the Internet, I'll smack the hell out of him. I wouldn't like that guy either. Who is that guy? Cause it's certainly not me."
To see all of Washington's conversation with Papadopoulos, watch "Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk" on Fox Nation.
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