New Grey's Anatomy Drama Part 2, T.R. Says Isaiah Forced Him Out The Closet

T.R. Knight says hearing Isaiah Washington call him a "faggot" on the set of Grey's Anatomy gave him the courage to come out of the closet – and that he's speechless that Washington on Monday denied using the word.

In an interview with Ellen DeGeneres set to air Wednesday, Knight says something changed inside him when he overheard an argument in October between Washington and Grey's co-star Patrick Dempsey during which Washington used the slur.

"It's an awesome word, isn't it?" the 33-year-old actor tells DeGeneres sarcastically. "I've never been called that to my face. So I think when that happened, something shifted, and it became bigger than myself."

"I was under no delusions," he says. "My friends on the set knew. We talked about it. Publicly it's not my thing to call up PEOPLE magazine and be like, 'Hey, you want to know something about me?' ... I could've just let it slide and not said anything, but it became important. It became important to make the statement."

In the Golden Globe press room on Monday night, Washington denied using the slur. "No, I did not call T.R. a faggot," he told Access Hollywood. "Never happened, never happened."

Knight tells DeGeneres he doesn't know what to make of the denial.

"I don't know what to say, really, about that," he says.