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"Breaking the silence" he's maintained since his firing from Grey's Anatomy (it's hard to pinpoint the exact moment ABC knew they had to let him go, but our guess would be that once they saw tirade victim T.R. Knight draped with a feeble Labrador on the cover of The Advocate, his fate was sealed), former TV doctor Isaiah Washington opens up to EW, elaborating on the complicated, post-shitcanning emotions insufficiently evoked by his ominous "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore" public statement and his flack Howard Bragman's outraged, "kicked in the gut" follow-up. Washington expresses frustration that his successful completion of the apology/gayhab/PSA gauntlet jointly designed for him by his publicist, GLAAD, and the network was not enough to save his job, and discusses the reaction (and non-reactions) of his showrunner and castmates:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How are you feeling about what happened last week? Did you think it was fair?

ISAIAH WASHINGTON: I don't know if it's a question of ''fair.'' I'm saddened by the outcome. I did everything that the producers and the network asked me to do. I came back under great duress and stress, and thought I was doing the job I was hired to do. I thought that was going to speak for my future at Grey's, but apparently that wasn't the same vision that the network and studio had for me.

Why do you think the decision was made by ABC? Was Grey's Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes happy about it?
 I knew she was aware of the decision. But you have to understand that she's at the helm of one of the top-rated scripted shows on television.

Were you in touch with Shonda after you were fired?
 She called me on Thursday of last week [June 7] and told me that I would not be returning to the show. Just like she personally called me and invited me to the show. It was full circle. [...]

Have you heard from many of your castmates?
 No. Everyone is still on vacation. I don't expect to hear from my castmates. I did talk to Chandra Wilson and I got a text message from Kate Walsh. Everyone's doing their own thing. People are still trying to enjoy their summer before they get back to the grind. I think a lot of people are out of the country. I'm still getting calls from people discovering that this change has occurred. [EW also spotted Washington receiving a hug and hi-five from former cast member Jeffrey Dean Morgan (Denny) at the Chateau Marmont in L.A. the day he was let go.]

Would you consider you and T.R. Knight to be on good terms?
 I don't know. You have to ask T.R. that.

After a moment of quiet deliberation, Washington decided not to let his answer about Knight's feelings remain so ambiguous, showing EW's reporter the screen of his cell phone. Scrolling past Kate Walsh's aforementioned text message (Re: the part on my show. Have your agent call ABC! LOL! Best of luck, KW), he opened a recent one from Knight reading, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Hear about my raise? And next season, George is banging Cristina!," a missive hinting that time has not yet healed his ex-castmate's still-suppurating wounds.