'Grey's Anatomy' actress fired from show

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 4 (UPI) -- "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes has confirmed actress Brooke Smith was fired from the U.S. television drama.

Smith played Dr. Erica Hahn, who is involved in a same-sex romance with Dr. Callie Torres, played by Sara Ramirez.

"Brooke Smith was obviously not fired for playing a lesbian," Rhimes said in a statement to EW.com. Clearly, it's not an issue as we have a lesbian character on the show -- Calliope Torres.

"Sara Ramirez is an incredible comedic and dramatic actress and we wanted to be able to play up her magic. Unfortunately, we did not find that the magic and chemistry with Brooke's character would sustain in the long run. The impact of the Callie/Erica relationship will be felt and played out in a story for Callie. I believe it belittles the relationship to simply replace Erica with 'another lesbian.'"

Smith said she had been "very excited" about the role.

"And I really hoped we were going to show what happens when two women fall in love and that they were going to treat it like any heterosexual couple on TV. And so I was surprised and disappointed when they just suddenly told me that they couldn't write for my character anymore."

Smith said she was informed in mid-September that she was being booted from the series. Her last episode is slated to air Thursday.