Isaiah Washington Defends Mel Gibson, Condemns Charlie Sheen, Likens Dr. Burke to Barack Obama

Former Grey's Anatomy star Isaiah Washington was let go from the hit medical drama in 2007 after his now-infamous gay slurs directed at T.R. Knight.

Now working on a Frank Lloyd Wright tour in Chicago, he told the Tribune that Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen have been treated differently than he was.

"I wasn't given the same benefit of the doubt," he complained ... but no hard feelings. "But you know what's strange? I'd still work with Mel Gibson!"

These three really need to get together for a drink.

"[Mel's] a talented man! Come on, he came up with Apocalypto, man! I want to work with this guy. I've worked with Steven Seagal. He's out of his mind."

"I've worked with Spike Lee for four films. I've worked with people that are teetering between genius and madness. I don't look at their personal stuff."

Well, except for Charlie Sheen's personal stuff. That's over the line.

Asked if he'd consider a Two and a Half Men gig, Isaiah demurred, proclaiming, "I will say this on record: I'm not a fan of that behavior," the actor said.

Good to know he has standards. Amazingly, Washington's best quotes came in reference to his firing from Grey's Anatomy over three years ago ...

"At the time it was very painful," Washington says of his Grey's firing. "I was distraught. I was nervous. I didn't know what my future was going to be economically because I was being taken to task for something that I apologized for.

"It never stopped. I realized I was a part of a much larger political agenda," he says, feeling he was the victim because of - obviously - his skin color.

"Dr. Burke [his character] was Barack Obama before Barack Obama, particularly in the world of the black community... I said my days are going to be numbered, because a lot of people are going to be unhappy about that."

"My character wasn't supposed to be as prominent as he became."

So basically, people were just itching for Washington to slip up somehow so Dr. Burke would be written off Grey's Anatomy. There you have it, folks.

Don't ask us how Mel Gibson is getting off any easier, or why homophobia is any different than the racism he condemns, but we feel enlightened.