Ingo Rademacher, a long-running actor on General Hospital, is now suing ABC after being dismissed from the soap for his refusal to be vaccinated for COVID-19. According to a complaint filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court, the network refused to accommodate his religious objections.
ABC is among many employers in the entertainment industry and beyond now mandating vaccines for its workers.
Rademacher says he requested a religious exemption to the mandate only to be subjected to “half an hour of cross-examination about his religious beliefs.” He claims he has a right to “bodily integrity” as well as a right to “informational privacy.” His suit aims to hold ABC accountable for alleged discrimination.
The actor who played Jasper “Jax” Jacks on General Hospital may face a challenging legal road ahead. Just as Rademacher filed, the Supreme Court refused to intervene against New York’s own requirement that the state’s health care workers be vaccinated regardless of religious objections. Three of the conservative justices voted to take up the case, and Neil Gorsuch authored a 14-page dissent bemoaning those losing jobs for sincerely held religious reasons, but the high court has now repeatedly refused to step in against vaccine mandates.
Rademacher’s suit attempts to paint vaccination as controversial, though as the nation deals with the latest omicron variant, more than 80 percent of individuals ages 12 and up have received at least one shot.
ABC has yet to comment about Rademacher’s lawsuit.
