Gay Activist Wants Isaiah Hired Back, Points Out "Disturbing Trend at ABC"

• Jun 19, 2007 01:57 PM ET
• by Matt Mitovich

Jasmyne Cannick, a gay and lesbian activist who worked with Isaiah Washington on the Pan African Arts Festival, has authored a petition to get the actor hired back onto Grey's Anatomy, saying that his axing has an air of racism. The decision to drop Washington "further adds to a disturbing new trend at ABC wherein minority actors have been dismissed at an alarming rate over the past two years," says the petition, citing Star Jones (formerly of The View), Harold Perrineau ( Lost) and Housewives' trifecta of Alfre Woodard/ Mehcad Brooks/ Page Kennedy as examples. "One must ask themselves, 'What is going on?'"

What's more, Cannick argues to the New York Post, "Isaiah has done more for the gay and lesbian community than T.R. Knight did in or out of the closet. He did what they asked him to do [apologize and star in a PSA], and now they want to make sure he will never work again. At what point is enough enough?"

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