{"id":42785,"date":"2021-09-29T04:20:05","date_gmt":"2021-09-28T22:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/ellen-pompeo-was-uncomfortable-with-him-playing-mcdreamy\/"},"modified":"2021-09-29T04:31:04","modified_gmt":"2021-09-28T23:01:04","slug":"ellen-pompeo-was-uncomfortable-with-him-playing-mcdreamy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/ellen-pompeo-was-uncomfortable-with-him-playing-mcdreamy\/","title":{"rendered":"Ellen Pompeo Was &#8216;Uncomfortable&#8217; With Him Playing McDreamy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div>\n<ul class=\"summary-list summary-list-variant\">\n<li>A new tell-all book reminds &#8220;Grey&#8217;s Anatomy&#8221; fans that McDreamy could&#8217;ve been played by someone else.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>According to the book Isaiah Washington auditioned in the lead role. This was not Dr. Burke&#8217;s role.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Washington said he heard Ellen Pompeo felt &#8220;uncomfortable&#8221; with the casting.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"inline-newsletter-signup\n                            inline-newsletter-signup-variant\n                           headline-regular\" id=\"formContainer\" data-component-type=\"inline-newsletter-module\" data-list=\"Business Insider Select\" data-acq-source=\"inlinesignupfenrir\" data-url=\"\"><\/p><\/div>\n<p>A new tell-all book about the untold history of &#8220;Grey&#8217;s Anatomy&#8221; reminds readers that Isaiah Washington could have been Meredith Grey&#8217;s McDreamy. Washington says Ellen Pompeo had reservations.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t audition for Burke, I auditioned for McDreamy,&#8221; said Washington, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/ew.com\/books\/greys-anatomy-pilot-how-to-save-a-life-excerpt\/\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"noopener\">&#8220;How to Save a Life: The Inside Story of Grey&#8217;s Anatomy&#8221;<\/a> by Lynette Rice, Entertainment Weekly&#8217;s editor at large. He said that creator Shonda Rhimes&#8217; original vision for the character was &#8220;a brain surgeon who looked like Dr. Ben Carson.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But Washington ultimately got the role of Dr. Preston Burke because, according to Washington, Pompeo didn&#8217;t want him in the role.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;There&#8217;s a rumor out there or something that Ellen didn&#8217;t want me to be her love interest because she had a Black boyfriend. The context is that she&#8217;s not into white men,&#8221; According to the book, Washington stated that he did. &#8220;I guess she implied that her boyfriend may have had a problem with her doing love scenes with me, so she felt uncomfortable.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p>Washington said he &#8220;supported&#8221; her feelings.\u00a0<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure image-figure-image  \" data-type=\"img\" data-e2e-name=\"image-figure-image\" data-media-container=\"image\">\n<div class=\"lazy-holder \" style=\"padding-top: calc(100% * 682 \/ 910)\">\n<p>                            <img class=\"lazy-image \" viewbox=\"0 0 1 1\" data-content-type=\"image\/jpeg\" srcs='{\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/61534735b414c1001862bf0d\":{\"contentType\":\"image\/jpeg\",\"aspectRatioW\":455,\"aspectRatioH\":341}}' alt=\"ellen pompeo\"><\/p>\n<p>                            <noscript><br \/>\n                                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/Ellen-Pompeo-Was-Uncomfortable-With-Him-Playing-McDreamy.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><br \/>\n                            <\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<p>                            <span class=\"image-source-caption \"><figcaption class=\"image-caption headline-bold\" data-e2e-name=\"image-caption\">\n                                Ellen Pompeo attends GLSEN Respect Awards at Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel, Beverly Hills, California on October 19, 2018.<br \/>\n                              <\/figcaption><span class=\"image-source headline-regular\" data-e2e-name=\"image-source\"><br \/>\n                                    <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/news-photo\/ellen-pompeo-attends-the-glsen-respect-awards-at-the-news-photo\/1057014598?adppopup=true\" class=\"image-source-link not-content-link\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n                                  Matt Winkelmeyer\/Getty Images for GLSEN<br \/>\n                                    <\/a><br \/>\n                                <\/span><br \/>\n                            <\/span><br \/>\n                        <\/figure>\n<p>Pompeo&#8217;s then-boyfriend, <a href=\"https:\/\/parade.com\/1245287\/kaigreen\/ellen-pompeo-husband-chris-ivery\/\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"noopener\">record producer and fashion executive Chris Ivery,<\/a> became her husband in 2007. <\/p>\n<section class=\"content-recommendations-in-post-module-1\"><\/section>\n<p>The actress addressed her reaction to Washington almost being cast as McDreamy in an <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2013\/10\/05\/200-episodes-later-is-greys-anatomy-still-mcdreamy\/\" data-analytics-module=\"body_link\" rel=\"noopener\">interview with the New York Post<\/a>\u00a0when the series was celebrating the 200th episode.<\/p>\n<p>Pompeo said Rhimes wanted &#8220;a Black man in the mix&#8221; to play Meredith&#8217;s love interest, but the actress &#8220;didn&#8217;t think they were really going to put an interracial couple on the show.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And I didn&#8217;t want him. It was too close to home,&#8221; she told the Post. &#8220;I said I wanted that Dempsey kid.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"figure image-figure-image  \" data-type=\"img\" data-e2e-name=\"image-figure-image\" data-media-container=\"image\">\n<div class=\"lazy-holder \" style=\"padding-top: calc(100% * 1371 \/ 1828)\">\n<p>                            <img class=\"lazy-image \" viewbox=\"0 0 1 1\" data-content-type=\"image\/jpeg\" srcs='{\"https:\/\/i.insider.com\/615347c12fb46b0019be6edf\":{\"contentType\":\"image\/jpeg\",\"aspectRatioW\":4,\"aspectRatioH\":3}}' alt=\"Shonda Rhimes and Ellen Pompeo\"><\/p>\n<p>                            <noscript><br \/>\n                                <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1632869405_437_Ellen-Pompeo-Was-Uncomfortable-With-Him-Playing-McDreamy.jpeg\" alt=\"\" title=\"\"><br \/>\n                            <\/noscript><\/p><\/div>\n<p>                            <span class=\"image-source-caption \"><figcaption class=\"image-caption headline-bold\" data-e2e-name=\"image-caption\">\n                                Shonda Rhimes (L), executive producer and Ellen Pompeo talk onstage during the panel discussion on &#8216;Grey&#8217;s Anatomy&#8217; and &#8216;Scandal&#8217; during the ABC Entertainment segment of the 2015 Summer TCA Tour at The Beverly Hilton Hotel, August 4, 2015, Beverly Hills.<br \/>\n                              <\/figcaption><span class=\"image-source headline-regular\" data-e2e-name=\"image-source\"><br \/>\n                                  Frederick M. Brown\/Getty Images<br \/>\n                                <\/span><br \/>\n                            <\/span><br \/>\n                        <\/figure>\n<p>Although Pompeo had her reservations about Washington, who was fired from the ABC medical drama in\u00a02007 for using a homophobic slur on set, she&#8217;s a vocal ally for people of color.<\/p>\n<p>She also infamously called out the lack of diversity in the room when she was on set for a &#8220;Women in Television&#8221; interview\u00a0for\u00a0Porter magazine in 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;This day has been incredible,&#8221; she said. &#8220;And there&#8217;s a ton of women in the room. But I don&#8217;t see enough color. And I didn&#8217;t see enough color when I walked into the room today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;How to Save a Life&#8221; The ABC drama&#8217;s long-running series provides readers with new information (and reminders).<\/p>\n<p>Insider asked for comment from representatives of Pompeo, Washington and Rhimes. ABC representatives declined to comment.<\/p>\n<section class=\"content-recommendations-in-post-module-fixed\"><\/section>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A new tell-all book reminds &#8220;Grey&#8217;s Anatomy&#8221; fans that McDreamy could&#8217;ve been played by someone else.\u00a0 According to the book Isaiah Washington auditioned in the lead role. This was not Dr. Burke&#8217;s role.\u00a0 Washington said he heard Ellen Pompeo felt &#8220;uncomfortable&#8221; with the casting.\u00a0 A new tell-all book about the untold history of &#8220;Grey&#8217;s Anatomy&#8221; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":42786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[101,3,105,106],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/1632869406_Ellen-Pompeo-Was-Uncomfortable-With-Him-Playing-McDreamy.jpeg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42785"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42785\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42785"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42785"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/centralrecorder.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42785"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}