This image was lost some time after publication.

Despite appeals from gay rights groups to apologize, Isaiah "I love gay" Washington remains stubbornly tight-lipped regarding his use of the word "faggot" to disparage Grey's Anatomy co-star T.R. Knight, a wound reopened when he shouted it again in a denial of the incident to a roomful of reporters at Monday's Golden Globes. ABC brass, realizing they have to say something, has released this preliminary statement on the matter:

"We have a long standing policy to create and maintain respectful workplaces for all our employees. We dealt with the original situation in October, and thought the issue resolved. Therefore, we are greatly dismayed that Mr. Washington chose to use such inappropriate language at the Golden Globes, that he himself deemed 'unfortunate' in his previous public apology. We take this situation very seriously, and his actions are unacceptable and are being addressed."

The gathering storm over this instance of workplace bigotry isn't likely to pass until ABC president Steve McPherson makes a definitive move on the matter. Based on his track record, we know how the network head prefers to terminate mouthy, troublesome actors: by greenlighting a definitive and graphic demise that also serves to enhance the dramatic arc of a hit series. We therefore look forward to the upcoming episode of Grey's in which Sandra Oh's Dr. Cristina Yang discovers Washington's Dr. Preston Burke has been cheating on her with a leggy intern, driving her to blow his brains out with a handgun, only to get off on a technicality and quickly fall in love with Preston's long-lost cousin who just moved to town from Detroit, played by Blair Underwood.