When the COVID-19 virus began spreading across the world, almost everything had to shut down. Restaurants closed, theme parks closed, movie theaters closed. The world became a different place. After months of staying indoors except when absolutely necessary, wearing masks all the time, and social distancing, things began to get better. However, we still needed to be very careful. That was especially true for people who worked in close proximity to each other. When Hollywood finally began working again, they put a number of protocols in place as a way to keep production going.
Once the COVID-19 vaccine became more widely available, many studios began requiring cast and crew to get vaccinated. One of those studios was Disney. Some actors and crew members submitted paperwork, asking to be exempt from having to get the vaccine due to medical conditions or religious beliefs. While Disney granted some of those requests, they did not grant all of them. One of the requests they denied was made by General Hospital star Ingo Rademacher. Rademacher continued to refuse to get the vaccine and was fired from a role he had played for 25 years.
Back in December 2021, Rademacher filed a lawsuit against ABC and The Walt Disney Company. Rademacher claimed that his exemption request was unfairly denied. He also claimed that ABC — which is owned by Disney — did not have the legal right to enforce its vaccine mandate on anyone. Rademacher made multiple claims against ABC, including medical condition and religious discrimination, retaliation, wrongful termination, and violations of his right to privacy.
Disney and ABC did not take the lawsuit laying down. In their response, ABC said that Rademacher didn’t actually have any religious beliefs that prohibited him from getting the vaccine. His objections were instead “rooted in health or efficacy concerns”. ABC said that, in interviewing Rademacher about his exemption request, he said that it was based on a book called Revelations of Ramala. However, Rademacher admitted that he had not read the book in more than 30 years and didn’t actually own a copy.
On June 7, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Goorvitch dismissed Rademacher’s lawsuit. News of the dismissal was shared by The Hollywood Reporter:
In an order granting summary judgment, Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Stephen Goorvitch sided with ABC, which said that Rademacher’s opposition to the vaccine was grounded in health reasons rather than his religious beliefs. Goorvitch had taken dueling motions under submission after an April 5 hearing and on Monday issued a brief order granting Disney’s and denying Rademachers’, but has not yet issued a detailed ruling.
Rademacher is not the only actor suing the Walt Disney Company over its vaccine mandate. Former 9-1-1 star Rockmond Dunbar is also suing, saying that his religion prevents him from receiving any kind of vaccine. Dunbar is suing the company for over $1 million. While parts of his lawsuit have been thrown out by a judge, there are still pieces of the suit that are moving forward.