When Shonda Rhimes, one of the biggest names in television admitted that she kills off characters from her shows if she does not like a specific actor, a lot of people immediately thought of Patrick Dempsey, who used to star in Rhimes' medical drama "Grey's Anatomy."
His character Dr. Derek Shepard's sudden death was one of the most surprising moves of the show, and it is safe to say that some fans have not gotten over his death yet.
Rhimes did not give out any names during her interview with Larry Wilmore of "The Nightly Show," but Dempsey was first and foremost in people's minds aside from other characters such as Harrison Wright (Columbus Short) and James Novak (Dan Bucatinsky) for "Scandal," Mark Sloan (Eric Dane) and Denny Duquette (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) also for "Grey's Anatomy," and Sam Keating (Tom Verica) for "How to Get Away With Murder."
When asked by Entertainment Weekly how he feels about Rhimes' statement, Dempsey tried to be diplomatic in his answer.
"I think she loves being provocative and that's fine for who she is. That gets people talking about all the stuff that she's doing," he said. "She's an amazing woman who is incredibly productive. She's promoting a book. She's promoting three shows. And she's emerging as the star of all of these things. I think she knows how to deal with the media and what she needs to say to get the response that she's looking for. She's very savvy."
Dempsey might think that Rhimes is extremely media savvy, but the television bigwig would like to attest otherwise.
"I think I have such a panic and a fear of public speaking or being in public. I'm really an introvert," she told Wilmore about her fear of appearing on talk shows. "I was very shy when this began and so I would go into a full panic... and I would not remember even doing the interview."
At the same time, Rhimes said during an earlier interview that killing off Dempsey's character was not an easy choice to make, and it was one that they took with careful consideration.
"We had a lot of discussions about it," she explained. "It was not easy or fun, it is never easy or fun. We've been working really hard for a long time together. We're family. Those choices and those decisions are never easy for any of us."
