Eric Dane Missed Presenting the Emmys Because of a Head Injury

Former Grey’s Anatomy star Eric Dane revealed that he had to miss a planned appearance at the Emmy Awards because of a head injury tied to his ALS diagnosis.

Dane was set to present an Emmy alongside his old Grey’s co-star Jesse Williams, but had to pull out at the last minute. (Williams presented the award alone.) Speaking with The Washington Post, Dane said, “ALS is a nasty disease… So I was in the hospital during the Emmys getting stitches put in my head.”

The actor, who revealed his ALS diagnosis earlier this year, declined to say exactly what caused the injury. ALS — also known as Lou Gherig’s disease for the baseball star who was diagnosed with it — is a degenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, and can cause loss of muscle control. Dane revealed over the summer that he’d largely lost control over the right side of his body.

Still, Dane said he was upset to have missed the Emmys, saying he was “really looking forward to it.” He continued: “It would have been great to see Jesse and get reunited with some of my peers, and to be able to present in front of my colleagues, I thought would have been a special moment. So I was a really upset about it, but you know, there was nothing I could do about it.”

While the injury prevented Dane from attending the Emmys, it didn’t stop him from flying to Washington, D.C., a couple of days later to meet with lawmakers and advocate for more funding for ALS research. (There is still no cure for the disease, nor is it fully understood what causes ALS.) Dane recently partnered with the organization I Am ALS, appearing in a video for their Push for Progress campaign, which aims to secure $1 billion in federal funding over the next three years. 

Of embracing his role as an advocate, especially when he has the resources to access certain types of care not available to all with ALS, Dane told The Post, “I have been an open book about certain things in my life. This is something I felt compelled to share with people. I don’t really have a dog in the fight, per se, when it comes to worrying about what people are going to think about me. This is more of a: ‘How can I help? How can I be of some service?’”