General Hospital: What We Know About The Vaccine Mandate Lawsuit Against ABC
The drama behind the scenes at ABC and "General Hospital" continues to roll on like a real-life soap opera. In November 2021, both Steve Burton and Ingo Rademacher — who played Jason Morgan and Jasper "Jax" Jacks respectively on the sudser — were fired because they would not follow the network's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. On November 23, 2021, Burton posted a video message for his fans on Instagram in which he stated that people shouldn't lose their jobs over such a matter and that it was "about personal freedom."
Rademacher, however, chose to sue ABC over it and ultimately lost the lawsuit in June 2023. In January 2024, he lobbed harsh claims against ABC in an Instagram post explaining that according to correspondence of the powers that be at ABC, found during the discovery process, he was fired for his personal political views and the mandate debacle was just an excuse to get rid of him.
According to Variety, two crew members — the construction and special effects father-and-son team of James Wahl and Timothy Wahl — had also been let go in 2021 for similarly refusing to comply with the mandate, and filed a lawsuit against ABC. The network motioned to have the case dismissed, but on February 20, 2024, Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch threw out the motion. The parties will be determining a court date in March.
James and Timothy Wahl's case set to go before jury
James and Timothy Wahl had cited religious reasons for not adhering to the vaccine mandate imposed by ABC on "General Hospital" employees. Variety further explained that the network declared they could not be exempted because of restrictions across the entertainment industry that were created to allow productions to continue. Much like the cases of Steve Burton and Ingo Rademacher, ABC did not accept the assertion that religious beliefs prevented them from getting vaccinated.
Judge Stephen I. Goorvitch wants to learn whether or not the network worked to coordinate with the Wahls to determine if there was actually any risk in them being in proximity of other employees. He stated that "The jury, not the judge, must resolve whether Plaintiffs [the Wahls] had genuine religious beliefs and whether Defendant [ABC] could have reasonably accommodated Plaintiffs without posing an undue hardship," according to Variety.
Dominick Nuzzi, vice president of production for Disney ABC TV Group, had explained in a prior deposition that there had been executive talks to determine whether or not to exempt the Wahls from the mandate but decided against it, according to the Hollywood Reporter. According to the new court order, Nuzzi's "testimony suggests that Defendant may have initially believed one of the plaintiffs, which supports both cases: Plaintiffs are father and son, and there is sufficient evidence in the record that they share the same belief system." The court further noted that the firing of the Wahls would have caused them great financial difficulties.