Grey’s Anatomy alum Isaiah Washington, 57, recently reignited his feud with former co-star Katherine Heigl, 41, 13 years after he was sacked from the ABC drama.
And series star Ellen Pompeo decided to share a throwback GIF of herself and Heigl as their characters, ahead of a brand new episode of Grey’s Anatomy on Thursday night.
‘Hey it’s Grey’s day!!!’ wrote Pompeo, 51, who shared the GIF with her 1.8million followers just three days after Washington’s harsh remarks regarding Heigl were published to the platform.
Weird timing: Ellen Pompeo decided to share a throwback GIF of herself an Grey’s Anatomy alum Katherine Heigl, 41, as their characters, ahead of a brand new episode of the series on Thursday night
The GIF showed Ellen, who plays Meredith Grey, and Heigl, who played Izzie Stevens from 2005 until her departure in 2010, enjoying a chummy moment.
‘Dude, she went all cage fight on you,’ said Grey to Stevens, before playfully placing her head on her shoulder.
Although the GIF choice raised some eyebrows, Ellen’s Twitter presence appeared to be strictly aimed at interacting with fans as Thursday night’s episode played out.
On Monday, Washington stunned fans when he unexpectedly posted a photo of Heigl with a seemingly antagonistic caption centered around free speech.
He was fired from the ABC drama months following an incident in which he allegedly used a homophobic slur.
Ellen’s choice of GIF raised eyebrows, since it was shared just three days after her former Grey’s Anatomy star Isaiah Washington had put Heigl on blast via Twitter; Pompeo pictured on November 15
Isaiah shared with his nearly 225K followers: ‘This woman once proclaimed that I should “never” be allowed to speak publicly again.
‘The world agreed with her proclamation back then and protested for my job and my head in 65 languages. I wish I was on Twitter in 2007, because I will NEVER stop exercising my free speech.’
He exited the series in 2007 after an on-set clash the year before, in which an anti-gay epithet was directed at another cast member at the time, T.R. Knight.
Katherine had come to the defense of her friend which was brought up by writer Elizabeth Denton on social media.
No love lost: Isaiah Washington has taken to social media to reignite his feud with former Grey’s Anatomy co-star Katherine Heigl 13 years after he was fired from the ABC drama months following an incident in which he allegedly used a homophobic slur
‘I will NEVER stop exercising my free speech’: The 57-year-old actor took to Twitter on Monday to post a photo of his 41-year-old former castmate with a caption centered around free speech
Washington was on the defense as he replied: ‘Your opinions are your own, but you are a fool, a liberal and and misguided feminist to even try and defend this woman. You weren’t there, so die on this hill, whoever you are. She could have cared less about her gay friend. Chandra Wilson knows all about that too.’
He was then asked by another social media user why he would bring this up after 10 years to which he replied ‘Because it’s the TRUTH. The End.’
It is still unknown what may have prompted Washington to make the social media post.
Their feud dates back to 2006 as Heigl alleged that Washington had used a homophobic slur which left her ‘furious and frustrated.’
Back in the day: He exited the series in 2007 after an on-set clash the year before, in which an anti-gay epithet was directed at another cast member at the time, T.R. Knight, as the cast are seen in 2006
Washington apologized for the incident in a statement to People in October 2006 as he said: ‘I sincerely regret my actions and the unfortunate use of words during the recent incident on-set.
‘Both are beneath my own personal standards. I have nothing but respect for my coworkers and have apologized personally to everyone involved.’
Then months later at the 2007 Golden Globes, a reporter asked about the alleged incident in which he reportedly used the word ‘f****’ toward co-star Knight and Washington not only denied ever using that word but also repeated the slur.
‘You weren’t there, so die on this hill, whoever you are’: Katherine had come to the defense of her friend at at the time which was brought up by writer Elizabeth Denton on social media and Washington blasted her
Heigl criticized him publicly just weeks after that as she told Access Hollywood at the time: ‘I’m going to be really honest right now, he needs to just not speak in public. Period. I’m sorry, that did not need to be said, I’m not OK with it.’
Washington recently talked about the alleged incident on set during an episode of his Fox Nation series Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk.
He said: ‘The story was a lie and misconstrued. But as a family guy, a father, I thought I was helping the family.’
The actor also went on to say that he would never apologize for anything again.
‘I did nothing wrong’: Washington recently talked about the alleged incident on set during an episode of his Fox Nation series Isaiah Washington: Kitchen Talk
Washington said: ‘That’s why I’ll never apologize again — to this day.
‘That’s why [Donald] Trump doesn’t apologize, because when you apologize for something, then that it is admitted to wrong — doing something wrong. I did nothing wrong.’
The two worked together for the first three seasons of Grey’s Anatomy from 2005 to 2007.
Heigl also eventually exited the show in January 2010 which was two years after she reportedly caused quite a stir for pulling her name from an Emmy contention.
Grey’s Anatomy is available to stream on Stan in Australia
Throwback: The two worked together for the first three seasons of Grey’s Anatomy from 2005 to 2007