Grey’s Anatomy actor Isaiah Washington has issued an apology in a statement exclusive to PEOPLE for his behavior during an on-set argument with costar Patrick Dempsey. "I sincerely regret my actions and the unfortunate use of words during the recent incident on-set," Washington, 43, says in the statement. "Both are beneath my own personal standards. … I have nothing but respect for my coworkers … and have apologized personally to everyone involved." After Washington and Dempsey, 40, clashed on Oct. 9, reports surfaced that Washington had used a homophobic slur during the fracas. Then on Oct. 19, their costar T.R. Knight disclosed to PEOPLE that he is gay. "I’d like to quiet any unnecessary rumors that may be out there," he said in a statement, adding, "I hope the fact that I’m gay isn’t the most interesting part of me." Fallout from the turmoil has sparked talk of everything from hasty script rewrites of an impending onscreen fight scene (not true, says show creator Shonda Rhimes) to rumors that Washington would be fired, possibly to be replaced by former ER star Eriq La Salle. "I found (those rumors) not only ridiculous but offensive that we would consider replacing a member of our family," Rhimes tells PEOPLE. "And also the (idea) that one black man was interchangeable with another seemed disturbing to me." Rhimes also dismisses speculation that the mood on the set has been unusually tense. "The mood’s what the mood’s always been," she says. "We have a group of people who are more of a family than anything else. We have our fun days, and we have our days when people are tired and the work is hard."
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It will be interesting to see if this will be enough, but I think it might be too little, too late.
