Ellen Pompeo Responds to ‘Angry’ Fans After ‘Grey’s Anatomy’ Exits
Ellen Pompeo responded to "angry" fans Sunday following news two longtime Grey's Anatomy stars are leaving the show.
The 48-year-old actress, who plays Meredith Grey on the ABC series, spoke out in a series of tweets after some blamed her recent salary renegotiation for Jessica Capshaw and Sarah Drew's departures from the medical drama.
"We R grateful all of you are so passionate but if you knew these two women the way I know them they would not approve of all this nastiness," Pompeo wrote.
"They both are super shiny happy people. I know you're angry but you're representation couldn't be farther from who these women actually are," she added.
Pompeo also responded to an individual fan who asked, "Aren't we allowed to be angry at this injustice, though? Going to be two impossible holes to fill."
"You are but spreading acceptance and love is our message with Greys and what all of the actors try to do with our performances on this show," she said.
Pompeo ultimately gave up after a different fan suggested she was being disrespectful of Capshaw and Drew.
"Please don't accuse me of being disrespectful it doesn't matter what I say nothing I say is ok so I won't say anything at all anymore," she responded.
Deadline reported Thursday that Capshaw and Drew, who play Arizona Robbins and April Kepner, will exit Grey's Anatomy after Season 14. Showrunner Krista Vernoff denied the same day that Pompeo's new $20 million annual deal influenced the pair's departures.
"The suggestion in the Deadline article that our cast changes are in any way to Ellen Pompeo's salary renegotiation is wrong and hurtful and misguided," Vernoff wrote in a post on Twitter. "It smacks of an old, broken, patriarchal notion that women must be pitted against each other and that one woman's success will be costly to others."
"Ellen Pompeo has not only advocated passionately for her fellow cast members, she has taken the time to educate women worldwide as to how to advocate for themselves and that must not now be twisted. The decision to make changes to our cast was a creative one," she said.
By Annie Martin, UPI.com
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