In an interview with HuffPost Live this week, Isaiah Washington recalled being the victim of an anti-gay attack back in the 1980s in New York.
"I had on leggings," Washington, a professional dancer at the time -- who is also straight -- recalled. "Walking around in the Bronx, you're getting a beatdown." Unfortunately, he added, "Thirty years later, we're still in that same place."
The 51-year-old actor can next be seen opposite Mo'Nique in Patrik-Ian Polk's "Blackbird," which is slated for release on April 24. The film, based on Larry Duplechan's novel of the same name, focuses on a young singer (Julian Walker) who is struggling to come to terms with his sexuality in a small Southern Baptist community.
Washington also talked about the media firestorm surrounding his 2007 "Grey's Anatomy" dismissal. The actor's contract was not renewed after he reportedly called co-star T.R. Knight, who is gay, a "faggot" during an on-set argument with actor Patrick Dempsey.
"This narrative of me being a villain has to stop," Washington, who apologized for the incident and released a PSA decrying the use of hate speech in the wake of the controversy, said. "You can't keep my feet against these coals when the narrative was wrong in the first place."