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.
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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.
@ColumbusShort1 Throwing A ‘Scandal’ Premiere Party, Releases New Single “GLADIATOR”? – http://t.co/OHu8dn62SS
— GabrielofSFPL (@GabrielofSFPL) September 25, 2014
And then he began to re-Tweet other messages of followers, which started out innocently enough:
@ColumbusShort1 You’re a class act standing with your Scandal family. We miss you already! Can’t accept you’re gone. #gothopeforharrison — LaVorneZen (@LaVorneZen1) September 25, 2014
But…..?
@ColumbusShort1 are you returning to scandal or nah? You’re doing an awful lot of promotion. — VII. (@MariaaElise) September 25, 2014
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:
@ColumbusShort1 Bruh I swear Shonda can right you back in. — Jack Ferro (@DapperDon07) September 26, 2014
— Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014
Doubt it.
There were these Tweets that even Short couldn’t argue with…but oddly re-Tweeted:
“@LesIzMore: You did it to yourself @ColumbusShort1” pic.twitter.com/5k2ulUjZza
— Ike&TinaDaugther (@BadAssFrame) September 26, 2014
And we see what you did there.
I know @ColumbusShort1 is at his Scandal watch party like “Bruh”. pic.twitter.com/Ec5yOu2AkC
— Mik O (@fire_N_ice) September 26, 2014
Tsk tsk tsk RT @Liberienne: Should’ve never beat ya wife @ColumbusShort1 — queen (@_Augustaaa) September 26, 2014
Tell it like it is.
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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:
I mean Harrisons #dead but he aint #DeadDead @scandalabc #Iovinit
— Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014
“@ITSDJFLOW: @ColumbusShort1 you messed the whole Scandal up Bruh. Story don’t even make sense” Making sense to me — Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014
Real #Gladiators make sure they see a body. #Truth @ScandalABC #Blockhouse
— Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014
Open the casket @shondarhimes open the casket!!! @ScandalABC never disappoints. @kerrywashington — Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014
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.
“@MoStegall: So @shondarhimes made sure my man @ColumbusShort1 had nobody…lol Its a Cold Cold World @ScandalABC #ScandaI” Life
— Columbus Short (@ColumbusShort1) September 26, 2014
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!).
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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:
Should #ColumbusShort be editing his resume and not tweeting
— #STILLWITHFERGUSON (@Keepin_up_wit_K) September 26, 2014
No one came to Harrison’s funeral? Are they all at Columbus Short’s #Scandal party?
— The Root (@TheRoot) September 26, 2014
Columbus Short’s Scandal viewing party will be overflowing with high-grade recreational pharmaceuticals and pure, undistilled regret.
— Pia Glenn (@PiaGlenn) September 25, 2014
That awkward moment when you see your career on tv in a casket. #columbusshort #scandal #ifhecouldtakeitallback
— THE BIG KENNEY (@BIG_KENNEY) September 26, 2014
They might actually be crying real tears for Columbus Short’s sanity.
— Lauren Williams (@laurenwilliams) September 26, 2014
I almost shed a tear for the funeral…. Until I remembered #ColumbusShort put hands on his wife. Dry eyes ✋#scandal
— DANI (@callme_DaniD) September 26, 2014
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:
This scene. I can’t. It all just breaks my heart. Love u @ColumbusShort1 & love u #Harrison Love my #ScandalFam ❤️ #ELovesMellie @eonline
— Bellamy Young (@BellamyYoung) September 26, 2014
And while Shonda wrote him off, she at least posted a little Tweet for the homie:
This scene kills me. Goodbye Harrison. #scandal #tgit
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) September 26, 2014
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