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Readers of the hard-copy of today's Variety were greeted by a promotional cover needily advocating the Emmy-worthiness of the entire Grey's Anatomy ensemble, including recovering castectomy patient Isaiah Washington, whose vaguely menacing photo is separated from that of nemesis T.R. Knight by a five-actor buffer.

Whether ABC Studios was contractually obligated to leave Washington in the ad or just wanted to recognize the fine work he did before having his creative rhythm interrupted by a stint in gayhab, it's probably safe to assume that they wouldn't be too upset if the TV Academy pretended he'd been deleted from their campaign, saving them months of stomach-perforating worry that a triumphant, vindicated Washington might take the stage, raise aloft his gilded avenging-angel statuette, and finally get the chance to deliver the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!" line that fell so flat in his post-shitcanning public statement.

Because we're sympathetic to ABC's predicament, we've taken the liberty of mocking up a revised For Your Considation ad (above; unaltered version here ), which Var subscribers should print out and paste over the original cover.

[Image: Digital Variety]