Isaiah Washington & Patrick Dempsey
Lynette Rice's new Grey's Anatomy book reveals details of a very physical fight between Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey on set.
It wasn't long after this that Washington's character Dr. Preston Burke was written off the show.
The actor left in 2007 after he was accused of calling his co-star T.R. Knight a, 'f****t,' on set.
At the time, he denied the allegations, telling the press room at the Golden Globes, 'No, I did not call T.R. a f****t.'
Knight, who played George on the show, insisted it did happen and he was forced to publicly acknowledge his sexuality as a result.
Katherine Heigl, who played Izzie in the show, spoke out in support of T.R. following Isaiah's comments.
In a statement to Access Hollywood, she said, '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 okay with it.'
In the new Grey's Anatomy book How to Save a Life, Heigl said she has no regrets about speaking out.
As quoted by People Magazine, she said she was, 'furious and frustrated for [her] friend and sick of the whole mess of it.'
'I was recently talking to T.R. about this and I said, 'I hope I didn't embarrass you and draw more attention to something that you just wanted to go away.''
'And he said I could never have embarrassed him and that he was so grateful because no one had ever stood up for him that way before.'
'So that is a proud moment for me. I don't regret it.'
She added, 'And I'm just grateful that my friend doesn't regret it.'
What happened?
But what exactly happened between Dempsey and Washington that lead to such a dramatic outburst?
Writer Mark Wilding recalled in the book, 'I think one of them had been late to set one day and the other one then decided to pay him back by being late himself.'
'Then it sort of exploded. They got into an arguing match, and then before you know it they were physically fighting.'
'I was standing there in video village. I'm, like, six feet four inches. I'm bigger than both of them,' Mark revealed.
'But I didn't really jump in right away because I'm like, I don't know if I want to get involved.'
Harry Werksman, another writer on the show who was also there that day, claimed Isaiah, 'went after Patrick.'
'I guess he felt disrespected that he and the crew had been waiting.'
'He went after Patrick, pushed him up against the wall, and said, 'You can't talk to me the way you talk to that little f****t T.R.''
Both actors spoke about the moment in the book.
Washington said, 'We learned that we [had] to watch what we say. We [had] to make sure we [were] more accountable.'
While Dempsey shared his belief that, 'the explosion really healed the show.'
He elaborated, 'No one passed the buck, and everyone owned up to the situation and moved on.'
