A week after Jesse Williams gave an acceptance speech at the BET Awards more than 4,500 have signed a petition for the actor to be fired from his role on Grey’s Anatomy over it.
As we reported, Williams accepted the Humanitarian Award during the June 26 ceremony and spoke about cultural appropriation and racially motivated violence. His words brought the crowd in attendance to their feet, but now those who have joined in signing the petition have called the speech “reverse racism.”
The petition, which was created this past weekend on Change.org, claims that Williams “spewed a racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people.” It goes on to say that “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.”
The statement also questions why Isaiah Washington, who played Preston Burke on Grey’s Anatomy, was fired for using a homophobic slur but there have been no repercussions for Williams' "hate."
Erin Smith created the petition and made it a point to tell anyone reading her remarks not to assume that she is white or a Trump supporter. She said she is just for equal rights.
Williams responded to the petition by tweeting, “Do not promote empty people & their tantrums. Pure clickbait to gain followers, attention & money, for themselves, not you.” A tweet in which Grey’s creator Shonda Rhimes retweeted.