Isaiah Washington is back and stepping into the kitchen. In Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk, currently airing on Fox News’ streaming service, Fox Nation, the actor travels along the California coast to bring good food and intimate conversation to a wide range of folks.
“Food carries culture,” he tells Yahoo Entertainment. “Kitchen Talk is really ... my answer to this very sick town wanting to attack me with a false narrative just because I supported the president and the First Step Act.”
The outspoken Washington has gotten heat for his support of the Republican Party and President Trump. Last year, he tweeted his praise for Trump and the First Step Act, a bill that would reduce inmates’ sentences for good behavior and assist with assimilating into society upon release.
The actor, who is best known for his role as Dr. Preston Burke on Grey’s Anatomy, is also fed up with what he calls a “media blackout.”
Washington adds, “I’ve been cast out for 12 years since 2007.”
In 2007, he was fired from the Shonda Rhimes show for using a homophobic slur not once, but twice during an on-set disagreement, reportedly in reference to co-star T.R. Knight (George O’Malley).
That same year, Rhimes accepted a Golden Globe for Best Drama TV Series, and Washington reignited the controversy by repeating the slur to reporters backstage at the award ceremony.
“That Golden Globes ceremony was a historic Golden Globes,” he says. “But yet this town chooses to focus on what I said at the Golden Globes.”
He publicly apologized for the incident and, despite the controversy, he believes joining Grey’s Anatomy was the best decision for his career.
Washington acknowledges that his relationship with Rhimes and co-star Sandra Oh (who played Cristina Yang) was a good one, calling them a “trifecta.”
“We literally had to be thieves in the night to get truth, integrity and decency through that show, even battling with other producers and writers who just didn’t get the diversity of thought,” he says.
Washington says he wants to increase diversity and create a safe space. He’s working with others to create an “anti-Hollywood ... where we can get it right.”
With Kitchen Talk, which was released on Fox Nation on July 13, he hopes to “show the world and speak about the world ... in a healthy way.”