Katherine Heigl Is Still "Proud" of Her Comments About Isaiah Washington

Katherine Heigl Is Still "Proud" of Her Comments About Isaiah Washington

She called him out for using homophobic slurs in 2007.

Back in 2007, Katherine Heigl called out her Grey's Anatomy co-star Isaiah Washington, saying that he should "needs to just not speak in public," after stories surfaced about him using homophobic slurs both on the Grey's set and at that year's Golden Globe's ceremony. According to Entertainment Weekly, Washington brought the issue back to the headlines this week, saying that he was simply "exercising [his] free speech."

After the original incident, Washington issued an apology after he and Patrick Dempsey were involved in a fight and he reportedly used a homophobic slur. A week later, T.R. Knight told People that he was gay, adding one more layer to the issue.

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On Monday, Washington tweeted a photo of Heigl and wrote, "This woman once proclaimed that I should 'never' be allowed to speak publicly again. The world agreed with her proclamation back then and protested for my job and my head in 65 languages. I wish I was on Twitter in 2007 because I will NEVER stop exercising my free speech."

A source told EW that Heigl is still standing behind what she said, noting that there is a marked difference between hate speech and free speech.

"Katherine stood up for her close friend twice when Isaiah publicly outed him and called him a f----t," the source said. "That’s hate talk, not free speech. She is proud that she stood up for him. Katherine is and always will be an advocate and ally to the LGBTQ community."

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Twitter users were quick to respond to Washington's statement — and he wasn't too happy with the comments.