During his appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show, actor Patrick Dempsey was questioned about Brooke Smith, who plays the character Erica Hahn on the show. Smith was reportedly was let go because of her character’s homosexuality.
Although "McDreamy" regrets that his colleague left the show, he did not outright say that ABC network fired Brooke Smith because of her character’s homosexuality.
“Thursday night is her last show, which is too bad, she has been a great character. I don’t know what happened with that story line. They decided not to continue it for some reason,” explained Dempsey.
According to creator of the series, Shonda Rhimes, the on-screen chemistry between Brooke Smith and Sara Ramirez was not perfect, which remains the reason for Erica Hahn’s character disappearance.