Ellen Pompeo Calls Out ‘Today’ Headline: ‘Lay off the Booze and Pay Attention to the Real Conversation’

“Grey’s Anatomy” star took aim at NBC daytime show’s Twitter account over fixation on her relationship with former co-star Patrick Dempsey

Ellen Pompeo
Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

“Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo called out the “Today” show Twitter account on Tuesday, taking issue with a headline about her and former co-star Patrick Dempsey.

The headline stemmed from Pompeo’s appearance on this week’s episode on Jada Pinkett Smith’s Facebook show, “Red Table Talk,” in which the actress said she hadn’t spoken to Dempsey since he left the show in 2015.

“We haven’t spoken since he’s left the show,” Pompeo said. “I have no hard feelings toward him, he’s a wonderful actor, and we made, you know, the best TV you could make together.”

“Today” was one of several outlets to pick up Pompeo’s quotes and run a headline about Pompeo and Dempsey rather than focusing on the larger conversation about race and her experience raising biracial children.

“Hey here’s a suggestion!! Maybe all of you over there lay off the booze and pay attention to the real conversation that took place?” Pompeo wrote in response to the Twitter account for Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb’s fourth hour of “Today.”

She followed up that first tweet with another missive directed at the show’s social media team. “And whoever is in charge of this account.. the two women you work for deserve to be represented a bit more dignified,” she wrote.

Pompeo’s tweets were sent hours before Gifford announced she would be leaving the show after 11 years.

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