According to reports, a petition has been set in motion by Grey’s Anatomy fans to collect signatures from those who want actor Jesse Williams and his “too Black sentiments” removed from the show because they allegedly heard his speech as “anti white.”
The petition, which can be found on Change.org, has over 4,000 signatures calling for Williams’ removal from the show.
The petition reads as follows:
Jesse Williams spewed a racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people at the BET awards. If this was a white person making the same speech about an African American, they would have been fired and globally chastised, as they should be, but there has been no consequences to Williams’ actions. There’s been no companies making a stand against his racist remarks and no swift action condemning his negative attitude. Why was Burke’s character fired from Grey’s Anatomy after his inappropriate homophobic slur, but nothing for Jesse Williams? Why the one-way street? Why the support for a hater? Why the hypocrisy? #AllLivesMatter All humans bleed the same color. #EqualConsequences4RacistBehavior
**A special note to all the people making assumptions: Who said I was white? Who said I’m a Trump supporter? This is not about politics. This is about equal consequences for racist behavior. If this was an Asian, Mexican, Caucasian or whoever saying the same exact words as Jesse Williams did, I would be against it and petitioned them to be fired if they did not suffer the same consequences as others have suffered for their irrational behavior. We’re all human. Why not act that way? Instead of lashing out with immature and obnoxious name calling, do something about getting everyone to look at everyone in the same light. Make a difference!
Grey’s Anatomy producer and ABC favorite Shonda Rhimes was quick to defend Williams against the petition, tweeting yesterday [Monday, July 4] his role with the show was safe.
Um, people? Boo don’t need a petition. #shondalandrules
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) July 5, 2016
