After Jesse Williams delivered his controversial speech at the BET Awards, a Change.org petition was initiated, calling "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes to fire the actor from the show. The petition has so far gathered close to 5,000 signatures.
Recently, Williams was presented with the Humanitarian Award for his efforts to raise awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement. According to the actor, his speech focused on letting people know that they are not alone.
He previously stated that children are being poisoned to believe that they are nothing and that white people are everything, which reflects in the way that they treat each other. He continued that it was wrong and destructive to teach that every contribution in the history of the Earth stemmed from white people.
The Change.org petition stated that Jesse Williams came up with a racist hate speech against white people and law enforcement at the BET awards. If he were a white person making the same statements against an African American, he would have been removed and globally chastised.
The petitioners are reportedly dismayed that there were no consequences for Williams' actions and no one has been standing up against his racist remarks and negative attitude.
The petitioners proceeded to question why Isaiah Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, was fired from the show after he made homophobic statements, but Jesse Williams, who plays Dr. Jackson Avery, seemed to have gotten away scot-free.
They continued that Williams failed to apologize for his sentiments and it was an insult to the entire human race. Shonda allegedly praised and condones the actions of the actor.
They described Rhimes as a hypocrite for firing others for lesser infractions but did not take steps to neutralize the recent controversy.
PEOPLE revealed that show creator Shonda Rhimes resorted to Twitter to slam the petitioners and stated that a petition is not necessary, adding the hashtag #shondalandrules. After Williams' speech, Rhimes praised him on Twitter, affirming a line by the actor. Apparently, she could not care less about the complaints and stands by the actor, who has been on "Grey's Anatomy" since 2009.
Williams also wrote on Twitter in response to the pending criticisms against him. He stated that empty people and their tantrums should not be promoted. He described the petition as pure clickbait to gain attention, followers and money, for the own benefit of the petitioners, and not everybody else.
