INSIDE THE BOX | True colors: Washington sees red over ‘Anatomy’ ouster

It may be a long time before all the dust settles on last week’s ouster of Isaiah Washington from Grey’s Anatomy. In a week where we learned that T.R. Knight reupped for roughly $125,000 an episode and Katherine Heigl was back at the table riding the opening-weekend box office success of her film “Knocked Up,” the most surprising news came Thursday.

Grey’s creator Shonda Rhimes made a tearful call to Washington that evening to deliver the news that ABC Television Studios, the company that produces Grey’s for ABC’s television network, would not be renewing his contract option for the show’s upcoming fourth season. Shortly thereafter, reports began to circulate in the media that the actor would not be returning to the hit show.

For his part, Washington’s rep released a statement Friday with this perplexing official comment made famous in the movie “Network”: “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.” One thing Washington certainly won’t be taking any more of is a paycheck from Grey’s.

Here’s the timeline:

Last fall, on the set of Grey’s, Washington (Dr. Preston Burke) had an altercation with Patrick Dempsey (Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd), during which Washington referred to co-star T.R. Knight (then-intern George O’Malley) as a faggot. As a result of the dustup, Knight came out as gay.

At January’s Golden Globes, Washington denied he’d made the comment, saying “faggot” again in the process. Katherine Heigl denounced Washington’s behavior and comments. Knight went on Ellen DeGeneres’ talk show that week to discuss the entire situation.

ABC Television Studios was then forced to deal with not only the original incident but a second casual use of an epithet while doing press for the show. Washington eventually admitted what he’d done, apologized for his behavior, and agreed to get help with anger management.

He went to therapy, met with the folks at GLAAD, and taped a PSA explaining to America that words hurts. That PSA aired after the Grey’s season concluded a little less than a month ago.

In the season finale, Dr. Burke walked out on his wedding and left town, prompting inquiring minds to ask if he’d return in the fall. His publicist told the press at that time that he planned to spend his hiatus working on other projects, including volunteer work, but that they fully expected him to return to the show.

That brings us to the events of this week, and Washington’s weird official statement. He went to anger management counseling. How well can it have possibly worked if the first thing he says is that he’s “mad as hell”?

Now the media reports that Washington is mulling his legal options and may sue the show to dispute his firing. At least now we (maybe) know what he was talking about with the “not going to take it anymore.”

According to his publicist, Washington feels like he was made to jump through hoops for no reason. Publicist Howard Bragman admits that there was no agreement between the studio and the actor that he’d keep his job if he publicly addressed his problem(s), but wonders to the Los Angeles Times what it was all for.

The bottom line here is that Washington was at fault. He was at fault in October when he picked a fight with Dempsey. He’s to blame for calling T.R. Knight a faggot on two separate occasions. And he’s the one who stirred up a hornet’s nest by denying the first incident ever happened TO A ROOM FULL OF PRESS (and, from a show PR standpoint, for stealing the spotlight from the show’s Golden Globe win that night).

It’s entirely possible that if and when the studio encouraged Washington to deal with his problems publicly, they hadn’t made a decision about his future at the show at that point. He seems to have been a liability to the show more than anything else — this all began with his behavior on the set, at work; then he turned into a bad press magnet — and any workplace would be forced to deal with his behavior eventually.

It would seem that the studio was acting in the best interest of the show in its handling of this situation. They let Washington deal with his own issues, and they let him do that very publicly. They gave Rhimes and the writing team at Grey’s a chance to work out an open-ended season finale, opening the door for Washington’s exit in an organic way that wouldn’t cause collateral damage to the storyline.

In doing all of this, the studio demonstrates a commitment to the rest of the cast and crew and sends a message that violent behavior and hateful words cannot be tolerated in the workplace. Washington made a mistake, and maybe he was muscled into repenting by his bosses.

But that process still needed to happen, independent of whatever course of action his employer decided to take. The decision not to renew his contract is just one more consequence of Washington’s actions, no matter how sorry he is now. Judging by his official statement, he doesn’t seem to have made much progress.

One final note about a key player who’s been good at dodging the spotlight during all the Grey’s drama this year. Rhimes may have been crying on the phone to Washington last Thursday, but her lack of participation in this offscreen drama as it’s unfolded has been perplexing. She didn’t address any of the incidents until Washington announced his decision to seek counseling. Perhaps she was just trying to stay out of the fray until she had to participate. Or perhaps she’s been engineering this ouster for some time. Here’s what she said about the Grey’s finale just a month ago: “I feel like we’re moving toward a very inevitable conclusion which, if you watched all the clues all along that you’d figure out.”

A real life conclusion for Washington, inevitable or not, may still be a long way off.