Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo is facing backlash after “bragging” about her fight with actor Denzel Washington while he was guest-directing the show in 2016. Pompeo was called “entitled” and privileged for boasting about her argument with the Oscar-winning actor.
During a recent Tell Me With Ellen Pompeo podcast episode, the actress — who portrays Dr. Meredith Grey on Grey’s Anatomy — reminisced with her former co-star Patrick Dempsey about what it was like having Washington as a guest director on the show.
“This is a good Denzel story,” Pompeo began, before explaining how the two had gotten into a heated exchange after she gave another actor direction without consulting Washington about it first.
“[The other actor] made this choice to speak very softly,” Pompeo said. “And [Meredith] was pissed that [she] had to sit there and listen to this apology, and he wasn’t looking at [her] in the eye.”
“And I yelled at him. I was like, ‘Look at me when you apologize. Look at me,'” the actress continued. “And that wasn’t in the dialogue. And Denzel went ham on my ass. He was like, ‘I’m the director. Don’t you tell him what to do!'”
“And I was like, ‘Listen motherfucker, this is my show! This is my set! Who are you telling?'” Pompeo said. “Like, you barely know where the bathroom is!”
“And, like, you know, I have the upmost respect for him as an actor, as a director, as everything, but, like, yo, we went at it one day,” Pompeo continued.
The actress went on to recall informing Washington’s wife — who she said was “a big fan” of the show — that she had been arguing with her husband.
“And then his wife came to set to visit, and I was like, ‘I was not talking to [Denzel], I was mad at him,'” Pompeo said. “I told his wife — I was like, ‘He yelled at me today. Yeah, he let me have it today, and I’m not okay with him, and I’m not looking at him, and I’m not talking to him.'”
“So we didn’t get through it without a fight,” the actress added. “But that’s actors for you — passionate and fiery, and that’s where you get the good stuff. So, it was an amazing experience, it really was.”
Pompeo’s story about her encounter with Washington, however, was not well-received by fans.
“White privileging at its finest,” one Twitter user commented. “I don’t care that her kids are mixed & her husband is black. No passes given for acting like an ass.”
“Imagine calling Denzel Washington ‘motherfucker’ to his face and then telling a magazine about it, and thinking it’s a good story to share,” another wrote.
“If a Black actress yelled at a legendary white director she would get labeled as angry and difficult,” another tweeted. “Ellen Pompeo, famous due to Grey’s Anatomy, felt entitled to scream at Denzel Washington and call him a motherfucker.”
Fans also criticized Pompeo for claiming her exchange with Washington was s “a good Denzel story.”
“Unbelievable that she would call this a ‘good story,'” onw Twitter user commented.
“My tone for ‘this is a good Denzel story’ is a lot different to hers,” another wrote.
“it was not a good denzel story,” a third reacted.
“so she disrespected Denzel Washington and then tried to play victim to his wife and she thinks this is a good story,” another tweeted. “I keep trying to root for her cause i’ve enjoyed Greys so much but the stories she tells on herself keep getting worse and worse.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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