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FormerGeneral Hospitalactor Ingo Rademacher is suing ABC over its COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
“ABC does not have the authority to force a medical treatment to its employees against their will,” the lawsuit states. “These actions constitute religious discrimination and violate Mr. Rademacher’s rights under state and federal law.”
A spokesperson for ABC was not immediately available to comment on the matter.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Rademacher’s lawyer, Scott Street of JW Howard Attorneys, says, “This case is about freedom, including freedom of religion and the right to privacy that all Californians have under our state constitution. Cases decided a hundred years ago don’t change that. The world has evolved since then. The law has evolved since then. We look forward to litigating those issues in court.”
Rademacher played Jasper “Jax” Jacks on and off for 25 years. Headdressed his exit from the showin a video posted to Instagram last week.
“I was on the show for 25 years. They’re like my family, a lot of the people there and I was really hoping that I could play Jax for another 10 or 25 years,” he said, adding that his exit from the show “is still something that I’m trying to process.”
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Addressing the vaccine mandate, he continued: “I think it should be a choice. If you want to go get the vaccine, get the vaccine. If you think it’s going to protect you, that’s great. But you should be able to make that choice. I think we all need to fight this because I don’t agree with vaccine mandates. Obviously, you already know that I do not agree with corporations ever, ever being able to mandate a vaccine to keep your job, to keep your livelihood…that’s coercion, and that is not freedom of choice at all. So, I’m really frustrated with what’s going on in this world right now.”
Rademacher isn’t the only actor to exitGeneral Hospitalover the mandate. In late November, Steve Burton wasalso let go from the daytime soap operafor refusing to comply.
Todd Wawrychuk via Getty
General Hospital’s vaccine mandate for Zone A, which includes the actors and all crew who are present on set when the actors aren’t wearing masks, went into effect on Nov. 1. Last month, star Nancy Lee Grahn expressed her excitement at the news.
“I am very proud to work on the ONLY Daytime Soap that has required that all performers, staff and crew be vaccinated,” the actresswroteon Twitter.
The Centers for Disease Control and Preventionrecommendthat everyone aged 5 years and older in the U.S. get vaccinated against COVID-19.
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source: people.com
