Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo was once reduced to tears and walked out of an interview after cutting Shonda Rhimes off while the medical drama creator was speaking about racism in Hollywood. Pompeo’s walkout was preceded by How To Get Away With Murder star Viola Davis letting out a big sign over Pompeo’s rude interjection.
The incident reportedly occurred in a 2015 Entertainment weekly interview, during which the Grey’s Anatomy star Ellen Pompeo sat alongside Rhimes and fellow #TGIT (Thank God Its Thursday) actors Viola Davis and Kerry Washington.
For those living under a rock, at the time, Pompeo, Davis and Washington were leading Rhimes’ three ABC hit shows, Grey’s Anatomy, How To Get Away With Murder and Scandal respectively. At the time, Rhimes, with her three shows, dominated the Thursday Night ABC lineup coining the phrase #TGIT.
Seven years after the interview, the tearful incident was detailed in a 2021 unauthorized tome, “How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey’s Anatomy,” penned by Lynette Rice, Entertainment Weekly’s editor at large. Rice claimed that during the Entertainment Weekly interview, there was an awkward moment when Ellen Pompeo interrupted a conversation about racism by walking out of the interview in tears.
During the conversation, EW interviewer Melissa Maerz reportedly asked Rhimes to comment on a New York Times piece in which Viola Davis was called “less classically beautiful” than lighter-skinned black actresses. At the time, the op-ed written by Alessandra Stanley received backlash. Maerz asked Rhimes if anything positive had emerged from the controversy.
As Rhimes was responding to the query, Pompeo cut her off and said, “If any good comes out of ignorance, then I’ll take the ignorance,” prompting Davis to let out a huge sigh. Seemingly embarrassed by Davis’ response, Pompeo’s “eyes welled up with tears”, and she walked out of the interview.
EW interviewer Maerz told the book author, Pompeo’s comment was a “total record-scratch moment.”
She added, “Was she really saying that if any good came out of racism, then racism was okay with her? And why was Pompeo even responding to a question that had nothing to do with her or her show?”
Maerz noted Ellen Pompeo regretted her outburst and walked out of the interview as she didn’t want to draw too much attention to herself by crying in front of her colleagues.
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