‘Grey’s’ Producers Ready to Pull the Plug on T.R. Knight

Usually, when rumours circulate that an actor may be leaving his hit show, strongly worded denials are forthcoming from the actor, his manager, his publicist, the showrunner, someone’s mum, and even a loyal dog as character witness. However, when are things ever business as usual on the war-torn set of Grey’s Anatomy? Yesterday’s report that T.R. Knight had packed up his dressing room and hadn’t attended a table read since the second episode of this season prompted an unnamed Grey’s rep — not Knight or any of his management — to issue a vague non-denial denial to Us Weekly. Now, EW is reporting that the rumours are true:

Multiple sources confirm that T.R. Knight has asked to be released from his contract, a request that both ABC and Grey’s show-runner Shonda Rhimes appear poised to grant. “They’re working out the details now,” whispers an ABC insider. (A network rep was unavailable for comment.)

We sensed malpractice when we read the first denial:

“T.R. has never walked off set in the middle of filming. He attended the table read today and will be shooting this week, like any other week of production,” the Grey’s Anatomy rep told Us.

Far be it for us to point out that the original item never said he walked off set “in the middle of filming,” or that the statement “He attended the table read today” doesn’t exactly address whether he attended ones in the past. But no matter! We eagerly look forward to Knight’s exit storyline, wherein a hallucinatory Brooke Smith lures him out of Seattle Grace into the Gay Parking Lot of No Return.

• Rep: T.R. Knight Not Leaving Grey’s Anatomy [Us]