13 biggest controversies that happened behind the scenes of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’

Frank Ockenfels/Richard Cartwright/Bryan Bedder/Getty Images; Rachel Mendelson/Insider The pilot episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” aired on March 27, 2005. The medical show made history on-screen but also garnered headlines for behind-the-scenes drama. We’ve rounded up the most prominent controversies from 2005 to 2022.

  Isaiah Washington reportedly used a homophobic slur to refer to costar T. R. Knight.

Patrick Dempsey and Isaiah Washington film one of Washington’s final episodes on “Grey’s Anatomy. “Karen Neal/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesOne of the earliest clashes on the “Grey’s Anatomy” set happened between former stars Isaiah Washington and Patrick Dempsey during which Isaiah reportedly referred to costar T. R Knight using a homophobic slur.

 While shooting a scene late at night on October 9, 2006, the actors began to argue because Isaiah was annoyed that Dempsey was late to set, the tell-all book  “How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy” by Entertainment Weekly’s editor at large Lynette Rice reported. It eventually escalated into a physical fight, former executive producer Mark Wilding said in the book.  Former “Grey’s” writer Harry Werksman said that Isaiah pushed Dempsey against a wall and told him he couldn’t “talk to me the way you talk to” Knight, whom he referred to using the homophobic slur.

 Eventually, the men calmed down, but the fight and Isaiah’s use of the slur were reported to the press.  “We all felt horrible for T. R.

because he had not come out to his family at that point,” Werksman said. “That was the way the news got delivered, and there was a feeling like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t imagine a worse way for that news to get to your family. ‘”Knight eventually made a statement confirming that he’s gay to the press.

Isaiah issued a statement of apology to People in 2006. But he used the slur again at the 2007 Golden Globes while denying he said it during the fight.  The actor was fired from “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2007 but returned in season 10 to help facilitate Sandra Oh’s exit as Dr.

Cristina Yang.  Representatives for Isaiah, Dempsey, and Knight didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in 2021 upon the release of “How to Save a Life. “Katherine Heigl withdrew her name from Emmy consideration and sparked drama with Shonda Rhimes.

Show creator Shonda Rhimes poses with Katherine Heigl, actress at the In Style Magazine cast party For Grey’s Anatomy on January 14, 2006. Frazer Harrison/Getty ImagesKatherine Heigl won an Emmy for her supporting role as Dr. Izzie Stevens on “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2007.

But in 2008, she withdrew her name from Emmys consideration, per a statement published by Entertainment Weekly that read as follows: “I did not feel that I was given the material this season to warrant an Emmy nomination and in an effort to maintain the integrity of the academy organization. In addition, I did not want to potentially take away an opportunity from an actress who was given such materials. “According to “How To Save A Life,” Rhimes felt slighted by the statement, which created tension between the then-showrunner and actor.

 Heigl told Entertainment Weekly in 2010 (the same year she exited the medical drama) that she “could have handled the situation more gracefully” and avoided causing the writers to feel ambushed.  The Emmy’s incident wasn’t the only time Heigl shaded “Grey’s Anatomy” in public.  On “The Late Show With David Letterman” in 2009 Heigl said the length of her workday on the show was “cruel and mean.

” She also said she was speaking out about it because she hoped it was “embarrassing” to decision-makers on the show.  Thinking back on her words to David Letterman in the aforementioned Entertainment Weekly article in 2010, Heigl said her words sounded “whiny. ” “At the time, I was just quickly told to shut the fuck up.

The more I said I was sorry, the more they wanted it,” Heigl told writer Ashley Spencer in the Washington Post in 2022. “The more terrified and scared I was of doing something wrong, the more I came across like I had really done something horribly wrong. “In 2021’s “How To Save a Life” an anonymous source told Rice that “Katie got a raw deal” where her reputation on “Grey’s” was concerned.

According to the source, Rhimes “felt like the star of the show and resented that the actors were becoming stars of their own. “Representatives for Rhimes and Heigl didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in 2021 upon the release of “How to Save a Life. “Dempsey was accused of ‘terrorizing the set’ in a new tell-all book.

Patrick Dempsey as Derek Shepherd on “Grey’s Anatomy. “ABCDempsey exited “Grey’s Anatomy” as a series regular in season 11; Derek Shepherd’s last episode alive, written by Rhimes and titled “How To Save A Life” aired on April 23, 2015.  In 2021, the public may have gotten some more clues as to why he left thanks to Rice’s book.

She spoke to former executive producer James D. Parriott, who accused Dempsey of “terrorizing the set” during his last few years on the show.  “Some cast members had all sorts of PTSD with him,” Parriott continued.

“He had this hold on the set where he knew he could stop production and scare people. “Parriott claimed that during Dempsey’s last few appearances on the “Grey’s” set “he and Shonda were at each other’s throats. ” The former EP claimed that he was asked to step in to help facilitate Dempsey’s exit due to “HR issues.

“(Rhimes was succeeded as showrunner on “Grey’s Anatomy” by Krista Vernoff in season 14).  Not everyone who gave interviews for the book agreed that Dempsey was hard to work with. An anonymous “longtime crew member” told Rice that actors were going to Rhimes and telling her every time Dempsey made a wrong step.

 The person said that Dempsey was “miserable” and “had no one to talk to” about any of his own potential issues.  Even his costar and frequent scene partner Ellen Pompeo, who has played Dr. Meredith Grey on the show for 18 seasons so far, was reportedly “frustrated” with Dempsey, per a former co-executive producer and writer, Jeannine Renshaw in Rice’s book.

 “She would get angry that he wasn’t working as much,” Renshaw said. “She was very big on having things be fair. She just didn’t like that Patrick would complain that ‘I’m here too late’ or ‘I’ve been here too long’ when she had twice as many scenes in the episode as he did.

“Representatives for Dempsey, Rhimes, and Pompeo didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in 2021 upon the release of “How to Save a Life” while a representative for ABC declined to comment. Pompeo and Dempsey appear to be on good terms today. He returned to “Grey’s” for a multi-episode arc when Meredith was in a coma on season 17.

He also appeared on the September 29, 2021, episode of her podcast, “Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo. ” Writer Elisabeth Finch was accused of faking details of her personal life, reportedly leading to an internal investigation. Elisabeth Finch on set of “Grey’s Anatomy.

“Mitch Haaseth/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesIn March 2022, entertainment newsletter The Ankler reported that “Grey’s Anatomy” writer Elisabeth Finch was placed on “administrative leave” following “serious concerns” within Shonda Rhimes’ production company Shondaland that “parts of Finch’s life story she shared in the writers’ room and with the press were made up. “According to The Ankler, Finch had said she was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and went through chemotherapy that forced her to undergo an abortion. She also said she lost part of her leg and a kidney and was misdiagnosed with a condition that led her to have unnecessary knee replacement surgery.

 Finch has also alleged she was sexually and emotionally abused on the set of “The Vampire Diaries” in an essay for The Hollywood Reporter in 2018.  Finch began working on the drama in season 11, which began airing in 2014. She has written pivotal episodes of the series including season 15’s “Silent All These Years,” which focused on sexual assault.

 At the end of March, Finch took a leave of absence from the show amidst a reportedly contentious divorce, granted by Disney.  “I will always remain one of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’s biggest fans. I loved the show from day one and had the honor to write for it since season 11,” Finch said in part in a statement to Insider, sent by her lawyer in April.

 “‘Grey’s Anatomy’ is one big-hearted, brilliant family, ” it continued. “As hard as it is to take some time away right now, I know it is more important that I focus on my own family and my health. “When previously reached for a statement by Insider, a representative for Shondaland said, “Only Elisabeth can speak to her personal story.

” A representative at Disney/ABC declined to comment. An investigation into Finch was reportedly about to begin at ABC’s parent company, Disney, and Shondaland, which produces “Grey’s,” according to The Ankler. THR reported that after Finch began her leave of absence, plans to investigate her medical history ceased.

 In May, Vanity Fair published a two-part story that went deeper into the drama surrounding Finch, which included allegations that she copied details of her estranged wife’s abuse story and lied about cleaning up her friend’s remains after the mass shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh. When Insider reached out to New Community Chevra Kadisha in May, a coordinator said that only men were present from their organization while the second burial society, Pittsburgh’s Orthodox chevra kadisha, did not immediately respond. Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw were suddenly let go.

Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw on “Grey’s Anatomy. “Eric McCandless/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty ImagesOn March 8, 2018, International Women’s Day, it was reported by Deadline that Sarah Drew and Jessica Capshaw would be exiting “Grey’s Anatomy” at the end of season 14. “The characters of Arizona and April are permanently woven into the fabric of ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ thanks to the extraordinary work of Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew,” showrunner Vernoff said in a statement.

“As writers, our job is to follow the stories where they want to go and sometimes that means saying goodbye to characters we love. It has been a joy and a privilege to work with these phenomenally talented actresses. “In her statement on leaving the show posted to Instagram on March 8, 2018, Capshaw wrote in part: “For the past ten years I have had the rare privilege of not only playing Arizona Robbins but also being madly in love with playing her.

“”She was one of the first members of the LGBTQ community to be represented in a series regular role on network television. Her impact on the world is permanent and forever. Forever,” Capshaw continued.

“I am grateful that I have gotten to bring her to life and for the life that she has brought to me. I am so sad to see her go but am consoled by the idea that she will continue to live on and on in all of our consciences and our imaginations. Shonda, thank you for the ride on this incredible rollercoaster.

“Drew’s statement, also posted to her Instagram account on March 8, 2018, made clear to the public that she was not expecting to leave “Grey’s Anatomy. ” “Thank you for all the love. I know you’re sad.

I’m sad too. I haven’t really had time to process this information. I’ve been with it for less than 48 hours, so I’m not ready to say my thank yous and give an all-encompassing statement about my 9 years here,” it read in part.

“. . .

I love you, and I love April, and her story isn’t over yet. ” Drew and Capshaw’s exits came the same year that star Ellen Pompeo signed a $20 million, two-year deal to continue the show, as noted by Deadline.  Though the site was clear that there was no known connection between the two events, Vernoff chastized Deadline in a tweet for making any connection between them.

 “The suggestion in the Deadline article that our cast changes are in any way related to Ellen Pompeo’s salary renegotiation is wrong and hurtful and misguided. It smacks of an old, broken patriarchal notion that women must be pitted against each other and that one woman’s success will be costly to others,” she wrote in part on Twitter.  —Krista Vernoff (@KristaVernoff) March 8, 2018 Pompeo and Denzel Washington argued on set.

Ellen Pompeo and Denzel Washington. Alberto E. Rodriguez,Sean Gallup/Getty ImagesIn a September episode of her podcast, “Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo,” the actor revealed that she once had a fight with former “Grey’s” director Denzel Washington when he directed an episode that aired in February 2016.

 Pompeo told her guest, former co-star Dempsey, that she fought with the “Fences” star when she changed a line of dialogue in the script. The words in question happened in a scene where an epileptic patient was trying to apologize to Meredith Grey for breaking her jaw.  “He apologized to me, but he was doing it really softly.

He made this choice to speak very softly. And I was pissed that I had to sit there and listen to this apology,” she recalled for Dempsey. “And he wasn’t looking at me in the eye.

Again, we love actors who make choices. And I yelled at him, I was like, ‘Look at me! When you apologize, look at me!’ And that wasn’t in the dialogue. “”Denzel went ham on my ass.

He was like, ‘I’m the director. Don’t you tell him what to do,'” Pompeo said.  But Pompeo wasn’t intimidated by Denzel, she said.

“And I was like, ‘listen motherfucker, this is my show. This is my set. Who are you telling? You barely know where the bathroom is,'” she continued.

 She said she didn’t speak to Denzel for a bit after that. “Any set, unless it’s a comedy. .

. it’s an emotional place and there’s passion and there’s fire there,” she said. Eventually, the pair made up, Pompeo told Dempsey.

 “So, we were fine after that. And he’s just one of the best to ever do it,” she said. “You know, I have the utmost respect for him as an actor, as a director, as everything.

“Representatives for Denzel didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in September. In January, he told Variety he didn’t recall the incident in question after Pompeo received backlash for her behavior.  Commenting on the incident for Variety, Rhimes said, “The relief and the luxury that I have is that I don’t really pay attention to Twitter or Instagram — or articles.

“”But I also feel like Ellen’s going to be Ellen,” she added. Pompeo declined to comment on the matter further in a November interview with Insider.  Jerrika Hinton was reportedly fired from ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ for taking unsanctioned photographs.

Ellen Pompeo and Jerrika Hinton. Todd Williamson/E! Entertainment/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images/Rodin Eckenroth/Getty ImagesA source in “How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy,” said that Jerrika Hinton’s reportedly contentious relationship with Pompeo “hastened her departure from the show. “Hinton starred on the medical drama from 2012 to 2017 as Dr.

Stephanie Edwards. But according to the book, Pompeo was part of the reason that Hinton left at the end of Season 13. She reportedly took a picture on set that the “Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo” host didn’t like without asking permission.

 “Jerrika was always laughing, but maybe she was a little naive,” Norman Leavitt, the head of the makeup department on “Grey’s” until 2018, said.  “She hadn’t been around a lot, so maybe she didn’t quite understand the power Ellen had. If she’d gone and said, ‘Is it okay if I take these Polaroids?’ Ellen probably would have gone, ‘Okay.

‘ But by just doing it and not including her, you’re setting yourself up for disaster. ” Representatives for Pompeo, Hinton, and Leavitt didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in 2021 upon the release of “How to Save a Life. “In her 2017 “Grey’s Anatomy” exit interview with Entertainment Weekly, Hinton called the decision to leave “my own.

” She said she was “supported in a very deep way that I could never communicate, by my boss,” presumably referring to Rhimes.  “Actors evolve differently and when an actor like Jerrika comes to me and says she wants to try something new creatively, I like to honor that,” Rhimes said in a statement to Entertainment Weekly.  Ellen Pompeo interrupted a conversation about racism.

Executive producer Shonda Rhimes (L) and actress Ellen Pompeo speak onstage during the ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Scandal,’ and ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ panel discussion at the ABC Entertainment portion of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on August 4, 2015 in Beverly Hills, California. Frederick M. Brown/Getty ImagesPompeo once interrupted a conversation about racism by walking out of an interview in tears, Rice’s “How To Save A Life” recalled.

 The “Grey’s Anatomy” star sat for an Entertainment Weekly interview in 2015 with Rhimes, and fellow #TGIT actors Viola Davis and Kerry Washington.  During the conversation, writer Melissa Maerz asked Rhimes to comment on a New York Times piece by Alessandra Stanley in which Davis was called “less classically beautiful” than lighter-skinned Black actresses. Stanley received backlash for her words, and Maerz asked Rhimes if “anything positive” could come of the backlash.

 Rhimes was reportedly in the middle of speaking when Pompeo cut in and said, “If any good comes out of ignorance, then I’ll take the ignorance. ” Pompeo’s words caused Davis to sigh and when the actor realized this her “eyes welled up with tears” and she left the room.  In Rice’s tell-all book, Maerz asked rhetorically, “Was she really saying that if any good came out of racism, then racism was okay with her? And why was Pompeo even responding to a question that had nothing to do with her or her show?” She said she regretted not asking Pompeo when she returned to the room.

 “If I had to guess, I’d say that Ellen immediately regretted what she said and didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself by crying in front of the others,” Maerz said. She described Pompeo’s words and exit as “a total record-scratch moment. “Representatives for Pompeo, Rhimes, and Davis didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in 2021 upon the release of “How to Save a Life.

“Washington claims Pompeo took “hush money. “Ellen Pompeo, Patrick Dempsey, and Isaiah Washington. Jon Kopaloff/WireImage; Vera Anderson/WireImage; Vera Anderson/WireImageWashington said Pompeo took “$5 million dollars under the table” to keep quiet about “how toxic and nasty Patrick Dempsey really was,” on Tavis Smiley’s radio show on October 21.

 The actor also called Dempsey  “a total tyrant” during the conversation. He said Pompeo took the “hush money” from unnamed parties around the time the #MeToo Movement was making headlines and before she signed her $20 million deal to continue working on “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2018.  “And you want to run around here like you are the keeper of all feminine women and the feminist movement,” Washington said, referring to Pompeo.

 The “P-Valley” actor claimed that his involvement in conflicts on set of the medical drama was used to cover up Dempsey’s behavior because Dempsey had a strong relationship with Disney.  Reps for Pompeo and Dempsey didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in October 2021 following Washington’s allegations. Knight left “Grey’s” because of a “breakdown of communication” with Rhimes.

Knight in 2022. CHRIS DELMAS/AFP via Getty ImagesKnight left “Grey’s Anatomy” in 2009 during the season five finale when his character George O’Malley got hit by a bus trying to save a stranger.  In his exit interview with Entertainment Weekly, Knight said that he made the choice to leave because of a “breakdown of communication” with Rhimes.

 He also called into question the integrity of the storytelling at the time.  “My five-year experience proved to me that I could not trust any answer that was given [about George],” he said. “And with respect, I’m going to leave it at that.

“Knight returned to the medical drama in 2020 for an episode called “You’ll Never Walk Alone” to appear in Meredith’s thoughts while she was in a COVID-19-induced coma. Vernoff had been appointed showrunner by that time.  Sara Ramirez spoke out on if they’d return to the show.

Sara Ramirez on “And Just Like That. “Craig Blankenhorn/HBO MaxSara Ramirez left “Grey’s Anatomy” in the season 12 finale when their character Dr. Callie Torres moved to New York.

 In 2018, Rhimes said in a now-deleted Instagram video that a major network blocked Ramirez from returning to the show for a season 14 episode.  “Let me tell you something: we tried. CBS has a hold of her because she’s on another show, and we can’t get her.

But we love her,” Rhimes said according to TV Guide, referring to Ramirez’s role on “Madam Secretary. ” “Always. This is her home.

Come home, Callie,” Rhimes continued.  But Ramirez later refuted Rhimes’ memory of events. In a now-deleted tweet posted by  Deadline and other outlets, Ramirez wrote: “For the record @CBS has been nothing but gracious and generous to me.

They are open to Callie coming back! The ball is in @ABCNetwork ‘s court. ✌🏽💜” Brooke Smith was suddenly fired from the show. Smith on “Big Sky.

“Darko Sikman via Getty ImagesBrooke Smith played cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Erica Hahn on “Grey’s” from season two to season five. Dr.

Hahn abruptly left the show in the middle of season five after a night with Callie made her realize she was a lesbian and in her exit interview with Entertainment Weekly, Smith said it wasn’t her choice.   “I was surprised and disappointed when they just suddenly told me that they couldn’t write for my character anymore,” she said. She blamed the fact that the network got “cold feet” when it came to developing a storyline for a homosexual couple.

 “I don’t think I’m ever going to know [why this really happened],” she said.  “I was floored when they told me [I was being let go]. It was the last thing I expected.

In fact, when they told me I asked, ‘When is this happening?’ And they said, ‘The [next episode] is your last,'” Smith continued, noting that Erica wasn’t even written out properly. She just left the hospital and headed to her car.  Smith said that although the news that she was leaving came from Rhimes, she didn’t think it was the creator’s choice.

 “I don’t know for sure, but it definitely seemed like [Shonda’s] hands were tied. That was just my gut. She did seem upset,” Smith said.

 Dempsey later expressed shock over Smith’s exit on “The Ellen DeGeneres Show. “Isaiah Washington said he wasn’t cast as Dr. Shepherd because of Ellen Pompeo.

Ellen Pompeo and Isaiah WashingtonFrazer Harrison/Getty ImagesAccording to Rice’s 2021 tell-all book, “How To Save A Life,” Isaiah Washington was originally meant to play Dr. Derek “McDreamy” Shepherd, but the role went to Dempsey because Pompeo was “uncomfortable” with the idea of Isaiah playing the part.  “I didn’t audition for Burke, I auditioned for McDreamy,” Isaiah said according to the book.

“There’s a rumor out there or something that Ellen didn’t want me to be her love interest because she had a Black boyfriend. The context is that she’s not into white men. ” Pompeo was dating and later married Chris Ivery, a record producer and fashion executive.

 “I guess she implied that her boyfriend may have had a problem with her doing love scenes with me, so she felt uncomfortable,” Isaiah continued according to the book.  Isaiah said he “supported” Pompeo in not wanting the lead to be the Dr. Ben Carson type that Rhimes originally imagined.

 Pompeo addressed the issue in a 2013 interview about the 200th episode of “Grey’s Anatomy” with the New York Post. She said Rhimes wanted “a Black man in the mix” but the actor “didn’t think they were really going to put an interracial couple on the show. “”And I didn’t want him.

It was too close to home,” she said. “I said I wanted that Dempsey kid. “Representatives for Pompeo, Washington, and Rhimes didn’t respond to Insider’s request for comment in 2021 upon the release of “How to Save a Life.

” A representative for ABC declined to comment at the time. Read the original article on Insider.