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Welp, “Scandal” Gladiator Harrison is dead.

If you’ve been following actor Columbus Short lately you knew that well before last night — since the actor included “come watch me die” on the flyer for a watch party for the hit ABC show he’s been promoting all week.  If the party — along with a single he released just in time for season 4’s premiere, called “Gladiator” (sigh) — seemed desperate after the actor was fired from the show following a domestic abuse scandal of his own at the end of last season, Columbus wasn’t done just yet.

We all knew the death was coming this season, but did anyone predict the sheer sadness of watching the actor try to “smile through his tears” and Tweet through getting the axe during the season four premiere as Black Twitter dragged him for doing just that? The actor posted blogger Luvvie Aijay’s funeral program for Harrison (above) on Instagram before he tried to sort through a range of emotion that came tumbling out — mainly on Twitter — as he watched the opening episode with the rest of the nation.

MUST READ: Get To The Money: Columbus Short Hosting ‘Scandal’ Premiere Party

Shonda wasted no time last night giving the kiss-off to the former “Scandal” star. In opening scenes Olivia finds out Harrison is dead prompting her to rush back to DC from a deserted island where she’s been hiding under a new name, rather than “standing in the sun” with Jake (who must’ve gotten a shipment of Viagra among their delivery items, because dude was turnt up all episode! But I digress… *fans self*).

And it wasn’t long before Columbus reminded us just how far he had fallen from grace from Shondaland. While the rest of the actors from Shonda’s camp Tweeted pictures and updates from the same room, Short was an outsider looking in at his gen pop promoter party.

And then he began to re-Tweet other messages of followers, which started out innocently enough:

But…..? 

True.

Then Columbus started getting in his feelings.  You know what they say, everyone grives deaths differently and Short was obviously having a hard time grappling with the fact that his character was going to wear his last pastel shirt and ‘Gladiator’ business suit. First there was denial, with re-Tweets like:

— Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014

Doubt it. 

There were these Tweets that even Short couldn’t argue with…but oddly re-Tweeted:

And we see what you did there. 

Tell it like it is.

MUST READ: Get It Together: Columbus Short Arrested AGAIN!

Despite alluding to the obvious elephant in the room — Short was fired because of his arrests for violence against his wife and others — the actor even tried to hint that maybe there’s a chance for redemption by way of a “Harrison came back to life” storyline in the future:

 

Of course with Short fired before the cast shot the premiere — hence the kill-off in the first place — he wasn’t exactly being tapped to even play dead for an open casket scene but considering Shonda let Isaiah Washington make a small appearance on “Grey’s Anatomy” 10 years after firing him from that show following a homophobic slur scandal, I guess it’s possible we might see some glimpses of Harrison, in the very very very far future. However considering the allegations against the actor, no one should hold their breath for a Harrison soap opera-style return. Especially considering all the shade thrown at his character, even if his death/Short’s firing was handled in a graceful way.

Poor thing never even got a real background…he almost had it with the direction of where the show was going before he was exposed on TMZ for beating his wife, but instead Shonda let him die alone telling us he came from a group home and had no one except the four people who showed up at his funeral, three of whom were late. This is of course all while Aretha Franklin’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” played in the background (the shade!).

MUST READ: Columbus Short Goes From’ Scandal’ Star To Struggle Comedian: ‘I’m Back At The Bottom’

Anyway, while Short is grappling to come to terms with the reality that the violence against his wife costed him a role on one of the hottest shows on TV (not TMZ exposing it, as he blamed in an interview this week), of course Black Twitter, not one to “let sleeping dogs lie,” dragged him for getting written off, throwing his sad watch party and live Tweeting his character’s death:

And there it is. 

At least one of the actor’s cast mate’s shed a social media tear for him, Bellamy Young aka Mellie:

And while Shonda wrote him off, she at least posted a little Tweet for the homie:

 

Are you sad that “Harrison’s” gone from Scandal? 

READ MORE: 

‘Scandal’ Star Columbus Short May Be Handsome But He Has A Bad Boy Record

Shonda Rhimes Is Pissed Off About Columbus Short Replacement Rumors: ‘Harrison Is Not Being Recast EVER!’

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