EXCLUSIVE: As with so many family breakups in America in recent years, Ingo Rademacher’s legal battle with ABC over his release in 2021 ends General Hospital comes down to Donald Trump and vaccination policy, according to the former soap actor.
Ahead of a key March 30 hearing on the more than year-old lawsuit, plaintiff Rademacher’s attorneys filed briefs yesterday challenging the Disney network’s motion to dismiss the case. “ABC had a duty to accommodate Ingo,” stressed attorneys Scott J. Street and John W. Howard’s filing regarding their client’s request for a religious waiver from the company’s Covid vaccine requirements (read it here). “Rather, it subjected him to a sham trial that would fail and obscure the real reason for Ingo’s dismissal: his political views.”
Or more specifically, Rademacher claims he really was suspended because of it GH EP Frank Valentini and others on the show protested that he voted for Trump in 2020 and rejected the “false hope” of getting the sting:
… the show’s producers and writers didn’t like his comments about Donald Trump and restrictive Covid policies, so they wrote him out of the show and decided to “restore” the role. This meant hiring someone else to play Ingo’s role. However, there was a problem: Ingo was one of the most popular actors General Hospital. He was under contract until June 2022 and producers previously discussed a contract extension. Criticism of Ingo’s political commentary also led to the creation of the #FireIngo, which was trending when ABC decided to cut it. So instead of being honest with Ingo, ABC used the Covid vaccination policy as an excuse to get rid of him.
Rademacher, a more than two-decade veteran of the six-decade daytimer, was fired from his role as GH “Jasper Jacks” in late 2021 for refusing to comply with House of Mouse’s Covid vaccine mandate, according to ABC. He was not alone. Fellow actor Steve Burton went pink in November 2021 for not taking the vaccine, as did some of the crew. Unlike Burton, openly skeptical German-Australian Rademacher launched a major civil rights lawsuit against ABC over his firing on December 13, 2021. Long process Brief: Rademacher claimed that the network’s rejection of a religious exception to the vaccination mandate for was a clear example of discrimination.
Earlier this year, after several briefings and other documents on file with the LA Superior Court, ABC moved to dismiss the entire case. Citing its responsibility to provide a “safe work environment” during a pandemic and otherwise, the network also denied Rademacher’s own request to allow the court to grant summary judgment on his religious discrimination claim under the Act on To do Fair Employment and to decide on the housing law. .
Like the deep divisions in America 2023, Rademacher and ABC seem to live in two very different worlds when it comes to this litigation and the events leading up to it.
“In considering the content of Rademacher’s religious affiliation exemption request and his actions in support of his request, there is no doubt that none of the beliefs expressed in his request or stated to ABC are ‘religious’ in the meaning of the law or held in good faith as required by FEHA,” counsel for ABC’s Paul Hastings LLP said in their own appeal dated March 16 (read here). “In reality, Rademacher does not have an answer to the ultimate question because … his religion has absolutely nothing beyond his own imagination – no scriptures, no leaders, no faith, no history, no clergy, nothing,” it adds at the Network sting. “There is no religion that one can join,” Rademacher reportedly told Erin Nguyen, director of employee relations at Walt Disney Television, when asked about his application for exemption.
ABC advises the court that the company has granted a number of employees religious exemptions from vaccination. However, none of these exceptions were in effect general hospital, it appears
ABC mocks the actor’s December 15, 2021 appearance with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson and seemingly “reviews” refinements to his beliefs in the months since his first court case, which concluded with a 2022 typo, where they say in 2021: “Nothing can change Time and allow Rademacher to correct the deficiencies in his religious exemption application in October 2022.”
Apparently they now feel like they’re sticking to their guns, Rademacher’s lawyers don’t see it that way.
In connection with a July 2021 decision by then-Disney CEO Bob Chapek to require all employees of the media giant to be vaccinated against Covid and a perceived lack of legislation that required an effort by Disney to ban those who religious is looking to accommodate exceptions, Radmacher’s submission of the 16 scalpel reflects ABC’s public attitude of non-compliance on his part. “Things changed last summer when ABC came up with documents proving this GH The producers decided to remove Ingo from the show even before ABC passed the Covid vaccine policy in response to Ingo’s comments about politics and the Covid policy,” this latest filing reads. “Things also got worse last December when ABC produced documents showing that it first decided not to order the Covid vaccinations and then the policy changed almost overnight at the end of July 2021.”
In a statement to the case, Rademacher claimed he was being circumcised GH left him “unable to get work on other television shows and financial problems forced my family to move from California to Florida.” The actor quit his other job as a part-time lifeguard in LA County and also put his $6 million home in Hawaii on the market in mid-2022. Trump supporter Rademacher, who is now the primary breadwinner for his three children while his wife has returned to the Sunshine State workforce, said: “I don’t consider myself conservative or liberal … I care about issues, especially the environment, privacy rights and freedom of expression.”
At Deadline’s request, ABC had no comment on Rademacher’s recent filing.
On the other hand, Rademacher’s senior lawyer had something to say against the city’s largest media company. “Our discovery revealed that ABC sold Ingo because of his political views, views with which the company disagreed,” said Scott J. Street. “We are confident in advancing the progress of discovery and we are confident that the judge will give us the opportunity to take this case to a jury.”
We will see in less than two weeks if this confidence is justified.
Source: Deadline
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
