As ABC’s favourite writer Shonda Rhimes continues to craft and collect ideas for her forthcoming TV stories, the cast of her hit show ‘Scandal’ joined forces to attend Paleyfest hours ago.
There, with help from the moderator Jimmy Kimmel, the cast took part in a question and answer session where they were quizzed on the show by loyal fans.
What happened when one attendee attempted to make light out of Columbus Short’s dark departure from the political drama?
Find out below…
The session sprang to life when Kimmel selected someone from the audience to deliver a question to the cast, asking the man, “What’s that around your waist?”
“It’s called fashion,” the man shot back, advising Kimmel, “Don’t come for me when I’m holding the mike.”
“I am such a true gladiator…I make my clients watch every single week,” the man continued. He asked: “Since the show is called Scandal, how doe the cast handle the true life scandal” of an actor whose character is killed off, adding “I won’t say the name (cough) Columbus Short (cough).” The packed theater laughed.
“That is a good question no one’s going to answer,” Kimmel forecast – correctly – of the reference to the actor who announced last spring he was leaving the show, after his option was not picked up. The move was widely expected in light of his brushes with the law, including his arrest for an alleged brawl at a West L.A. restaurant, being accused by his wife of threatening to kill her and himself with a knife. The fate of Short’s character, lawyer Harrison Weight, was left up in the air in the third season finale, in which he was last seen with a gun to his head. “You know I can’t tell you whether or not he’s dead,” Rhimes had told Kimmel after last season’s finale.
“One thing I would say, just so it’s clear,” Washington responded. The cast considers “family” everyone who has worked on the show, whether they’re on it at present or not. “So we never, I don’t, celebrate the laughter in response to that,” she told the man. “I appreciate the laughter. Thank you for giving us so many viewers. And understand why we’re not going to answer that.”
Kerry’s remarks come after Short revealed a cocaine addiction had been to blame for his departure from the show, seeing him written out of the series before the launch of its latest season.