This piece originally appeared on People.com.
Dr. Jackson Avery isn’t going anywhere!
A Change.com petition calling for Jesse Williams to be fired from Grey’s Anatomy for his speech at the BET Awards has garnered nearly 5,000 signatures.
According to the petition, “Jesse Williams spewed a racist, hate speech against law enforcement and white people at the BET awards. If this was a white person making the same speech about an African American, they would have been fired and globally chastised, as they should be, but there has been no consequences to Williams’ actions. There’s been no companies making a stand against his racist remarks and no swift action condemning his negative attitude.”
“Why was Burke’s character fired from Grey’s Anatomy after his inappropriate homophobic slur, but nothing for Jesse Williams?” it continued.
For more on racial issues, watch this Fortune video:
However, show creator Shonda Rhimes is not listening to the drama.
“Um, people? Boo don’t need a petition,” Rhimes, 46, tweeted to her 1.25 million followers with the hashtag “#shondalandrules.”
Um, people? Boo don't need a petition. #shondalandrules
— shonda rhimes (@shondarhimes) July 5, 2016
Williams, 34, also took to Twitter to respond to the controversy.
“Do not promote empty people & their tantrums,” he wrote. “Pure clickbait to gain followers, attention & money, for themselves, not you. Never you.”
Do not promote empty people & their tantrums. Pure clickbait to gain followers, attention & money, for themselves, not you. Never you.
— jesse Williams. (@iJesseWilliams) July 3, 2016
After receiving the Humanitarian Award for his efforts to raise awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement, Williams told PEOPLE that his speech was about letting people know they aren’t alone.
“Words are only as good as the response to those words,” he said. “But I’d like to think that I give people a sense that they are not alone.”
“If we keep poisoning our children to believe that we are nothing and that white people are everything, that’s when it finds itself reflected in the way we treat each other,” continues Williams. “It’s not that complicated. The truth we are teaching is that every contribution in the history of the planet came from blonde people. It’s not true and it’s destructive, and people are getting killed long term as a result. People don’t believe that we deserve it.”
