General Hospital: Former star sues ABC over vaccine mandate

‘There is no need for everybody to get Covid 19 shot, even if president demands it’

Former General Hospital star Ingo Rademacher has filed a lawsuit against ABC claiming that the vaccine mandates on the set of the show violate his civil rights.

The 50-year-old actor who played the role of Jasper “Jax” Jacks on the show for almost 25 years was dropped in November after failing to comply with the production’s Covid vaccine mandate, where actors are required to be vaccinated against coronavirus on set.

According to the lawsuit, the actor sought a religious exemption from the Covid 19 mandate, which ABC rejected.

“I am entitled to a religious exemption against mandatory vaccination for Covid 19 on the basis of my deeply and sincerely held moral belief that my body is endowed by my creator with natural processes to protect me and that its natural integrity cannot ethically be violated by the administration of artificially created copies of genetic material, foreign to nature and experimental,” Rademacher wrote in an email to Disney’s HR department in October, according to the suit obtained by Rolling Stones.

The lawsuit alleges religious discrimination on the grounds that the network is required to adhere to religious exemptions.

Rademacher has also claimed that the mandate violated his right to privacy.

“This should not be a political issue,” the suit said. “There is no need for everybody to get the Covid-19 shot, even if the president demands it.”

Rademacher’s representatives and ABC were not available to comment immediately.

Right before being dropped from General Hospital last month, Rademacher was criticised by his co-stars for sharing an anti-trans meme on social media.

Cassandra James, a transgender woman who is a cast member on the show, wrote in response to the post: “I am aware of a transphobic post shared by a fellow General Hospital actor. Shame on you. You have some serious unlearning and education to do. I feel deeply disappointed that such a public display of ignorance could come from our GH family.”

In reply, Rademacher called James “an absolute talent” and “very beautiful”, adding: “I don’t think a transphobic man would say that.”

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He also doubled down on sharing the meme, stating: “I don’t think it’s OK to call a transgender an empowered woman, because where does that leave women?”

In other news, last month Steve Burton also confirmed that he’s leaving General Hospital after 30 years due to the vaccine mandate.