Ellen Pompeo doesn’t mind if you find fault with her performance on “Grey’s Anatomy” ― in fact, she welcomes the criticism.
The actor, who plays Dr. Meredith Grey, came to the defense of a viewer who deemed the latest season of ABC’s long-running medical drama “dumpster [fire] trash.”
“Seventeen seasons we can’t please everyone all the time,” Pompeo tweeted Friday, adding that “it’s definitely not easy keeping it going and keeping it great.”
She went on to thank the viewer for tuning in anyway and for their honest feedback.
Pompeo urged others not to criticize the viewer, arguing that it was a valid opinion and noting that “the only show I’ve ever stuck with until the end” was HBO’s “The Sopranos.”
“Not to mention people are pretty much allowed to feel however they want after this really fucked up couple of years we have had,” she said.
“Grey’s Anatomy,” created by Shonda Rhimes, was an instant smash when it premiered in 2005.
The series put Pompeo, as well as Patrick Dempsey, Katherine Heigl and Sandra Oh, on the Hollywood map. Since then, most of the original stars have left the show, with their characters often meeting tragic fates. In 2017, however, Pompeo signed a new record-breaking contact for more than $20 million, making her the highest-paid woman in a TV drama.
The following year, the actor cited the LGBTQ-inclusive storylines of “Grey’s Anatomy” as one of her incentives for sticking with the show.
“We’re touching lives and making a difference,” she told Ellen DeGeneres in an interview at the time.
Season 17, which wrapped earlier this month, was set amid the COVID-19 pandemic and saw Dempsey and original cast member T.R. Knight return for guest appearances.