Actress Ellen Pompeo is the punchline to a number of jokes on social media after she shared a story about how she yelled at Denzel Washington. During the first episode of her new podcast, Tell Me, Pompeo recalled an episode of the show, Grey's Anatomy, called "The Sound of Silence." Pompeo began by explaining that the show's executive producer Debbie Allen brought Washington in as a "surprise" to keep her interested in the show.
"He came probably three weeks prior so he could get caught up because Denzel doesn't watch much TV, he's probably never seen the show," she told her podcast listeners.
"He did the show because his wife is a big fan. His wife is really who told him, 'That show's amazing, you should go do it.' I think he saw it as a good exercise to just come in and direct something quick."
Unfortunately, the "surprise" didn't have the impact Allen had hoped for. While the actress did note that Washington had an "amazing" presence on set, she called him a "movie star" that didn't "know s--- about directing TV."
To be clear, Washington did not have experience directing television at the time this episode was filmed. However, he had directed two critically-acclaimed films, Antwone Fisher and The Great Debaters. Still, that was not enough to earn the respect of the television star.
Pompeo and Washington came to blows while filming a key scene in "The Sound of Silence." The episode revolves around an epileptic patient breaking the jaw of Pompeo's character, Meredith Grey. As the episode progresses, the patient apologizes. With that said, Pompeo was not satisfied with the way that the actor chose to deliver the apology.
"I didn't really want to talk to this actor or see this actor before we did this scene, so I didn't have much interaction with him at all," Pompeo said.
"And then, he apologized to me, but he was doing it really softly. He made this choice to speak very softly. And I was pissed that I had to sit there and listen to this apology. And he wasn't looking at me in the eye. Again, we love actors who make choices. And I yelled at him, I was like, 'Look at me! When you apologize, look at me!' And that wasn't in the dialogue."
Attempting to regain control of the set, Washington told Pompeo to stick to the script, but she did not want to listen to him. Instead, she yelled at him.
"He was like, 'I'm the director! Don't you tell him what to do," Pompeo said.
"I was like, 'Listen, mother------, this is my show! This is my set! Who are you telling -- You barely even know where the bathroom is!'"
Fortunately, their back and forth didn't ruin the experience entirely.
"It was an amazing experience, it really was," Pompeo continued.
"That's what it takes to get the good s---. We were fine after that. He's just one of the best to ever do it."
However, some of Pompeo's listeners did not view her interaction as just a "passionate and fiery" conversation. Some people immediately joked about Pompeo going at it with Washington.
Pompeo's comments about Denzel Washington added to a long day for the actress on social media. Fans also called into question the comments she made about her costar, Isaiah Washington. According to an excerpt from Washington's new book, the actress didn't want him to play her love interest.
"There's a rumor out there or something that Ellen didn't want me to be her love interest because she had a Black boyfriend. The context is that she's not into white men," Washington wrote, according to Yahoo! News.
"I guess she implied that her boyfriend may have had a problem with her doing love scenes with me, so she felt uncomfortable."
Isaiah Washington's comments are backed by statements that Pompeo made during an interview with the New York Post in 2013. Pompeo confirmed that she "didn't want him" to play the role of Derek Shepherd.
"And I didn't want him. It was too close to home," she said.
"I said I wanted that Dempsey kid."
Much like her story about Denzel Washington, fans weren't feeling it.
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