As stated by The Hollywood Reporter, back in November 2021, former General Hospital star Ingo Rademacher was fired after he refused to comply with ABC’s vaccine mandate. Then in December 2021, the actor sued the network. In his lawsuit, Rademacher alleged that ABC had committed religious and disability discrimination, an invasion of privacy, and political retaliation. Now, the network is asking a Los Angeles judge to toss out the actor’s lawsuit over his firing from General Hospital. ABC argued that Rademacher’s claim doesn’t hold up to legal scrutiny. The network went on to note that the actor’s beliefs aren’t religious in nature and alleged that Rademacher would likely be let go from the series regardless of his vaccination status.

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In a motion for summary judgment filed on Dec. 28, ABC’s lawyer Steven Marenberg stated that the network’s vaccination policy resulted from “an extensive deliberative process at Disney.” He added that there was also a process in place that examined religious and medical exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

But, Rademacher claimed that he provided a vaccine exemption request based on his “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.”

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ABC’s Lawyer Steven Marenberg Says That Ingo Rademacher Refused to Comply With the Network’s Requests

     ABC

However, according to ABC’s lawyer, Rademacher didn’t comply with the department’s requests, refused to provide details about his religious views, and alleged that the network’s questioning was discriminatory and a violation of his civil rights. The filing stated, “Although Rademacher provided little information to ABC in the interactive process, what limited information he did provide revealed that his opposition to vaccination was rooted in secular, philosophical/moral beliefs. To summarize succinctly, at no point did Rademacher mention that his beliefs are based on, related to, or even loosely connected to any religious text or teaching.”

The statement continued, “Rademacher’s testimony confirms his ‘religion’ is not comprehensive in nature, but focused instead on the issue of not altering one’s/his immune system and ‘do[ing] the right thing’ or simply being a ‘good person.’ Nor does it contain most (if any) formal signs of traditional religions. Rademacher further testified that no one else can join his religion — which has no name — for one, simple reason: ‘There’s no religion to join.’”

Marenberg also noted that the actor’s character Jasper “Jax” Jacks was not regularly featured in the series. The character’s absence from General Hospital included a three-year period that started in 2013 and a two-year period from March 2017-2019. The network’s lawyer added that at the time of termination, Rademacher was under a three-year deal that had the right to cancel the actor’s contract in six-month durations as long as it gave the star a six-week notice. Rademacher’s contract also required that he follow ABC’s policies.

In the filing, Marenberg wrote, “ABC picked up Rademacher’s taping cycles in September 2019, March 2020, December 2020, and then again in June 2021. However, by July 2021, as Chris Van Etten, the Co-Head Writer, was preparing to lay out long-term story plans (a process that is usually done every six months or so), he identified Jax as among several characters who would be or might possibly be written off the show,” writes Marenberg in the filing. “At that time, Jax’s role in the ongoing storyline was negligible and Van Etten did not see a role for Jax going forward.”