The Time T.R. Knight Accused Shonda Rhimes of Discouraging Him from Coming Out

In July 2009, during his interview with Entertainment Weekly, Knight opened up about his decision to come out—and the pushback he received from Grey's Anatomy producers at the time.

According to EW, Knight said "the exec producer was among those who tried to discourage him from coming out."

"I think she was concerned about having my statement come out so close to the [instigating] event," he told the magazine.

For her part, Rhimes denied the assertion, saying: "I said, ‘If you want to come out, that’s awesome. We’ll totally support that.’ And then he went away, thought about it, and came back and said, ‘I’m going to make this statement.’ I remember saying to [fellow executive producer] Betsy Beers, ‘This is our proudest day here. T.R. got to come out, and I got to say to him that it wouldn’t affect his character’—because he was concerned that he was going to come out and George would suddenly be gay. I was like, ‘We are not going to do that.’ The idea that a gay actor can’t play a straight man is insulting."