Over the past few years, actor Ingo Rademacher has made headlines concerning his legal battle against ABC following his dismissal from General Hospital. The actor’s legal recently made a plea concerning new evidence in the case. However, ABC has recently fired back with their own response.
Another Actor Was Also Recently Dragged Into Ingo Rademacher’s Legal Battle
Rademacher first joined the cast of General Hospital in 1996, playing the character of Jasper Jacks. He had played the character on and off over the years until he was let go in 2021.
The same year, Ingo sued ABC claiming he was wrongfully terminated. At the time, he claimed he was let go after refusing to comply with the networks COVID-19 vaccine policy.
Rademacher had reportedly asked for a religious exemption, but his request was denied. He also claimed that the network’s actions violated his right to privacy. Reportedly, he also suspected his political views, including support for Donald Trump, could have impacted things.
As previously reported, Steve Burton was also dragged into the case due to his similar refusal to get a vaccine. Notably, Burton was rehired towards the start of 2024. As noted by In Touch Weekly, Burton’s lawyer claimed, “ABC’s re-hiring of Mr. Burton undermines its argument that Ingo’s political beliefs did not play any role in its decision to fire him — to ‘recast’ his role — in 2021.”
“Judge Goorvitch credited ABC’s evidence that the political animus that the General Hospital producers showed toward Ingo was irrelevant because, like other people, including GH actor Steve Burton, it simply could not accommodate Ingo’s objection to COVID-19 vaccination and fired him only for that reason.”
ABC’s Legal Team Claims That Time Is On Their Side
“That argument was always specious. But it carries even less weight now, given the newly discovered evidence that ABC re-hired [Steve] for General Hospital but did not re-hire Ingo.”
“This new evidence is compelling. It undermines ABC’s argument that the political animus the GH producers showed toward Ingo did not matter. It confirms Ingo’s argument that ABC intended to get rid of him — to recast his character — which preceded the Covid vaccination policy.”
According to the publication, however, ABC has since fought back against the claim. Their legal team claimed, the rehiring of Burton was “completely irrelevant, inadmissible and would not raise a triable issue of fact in this case.”
ABC’s lawyers highlighted that Burton’s rehiring was also “years after the end of the COVID-19 global health emergency. And at a time when Disney’s vaccine mandate was no longer in effect. Thus, his rehiring has no logical impact on [Ingo’s] claims.”
Ultimately, the legal team felt that, “Nothing in the order indicates the court considered [Steve’s] termination as a factor when it granted [ABC’s] Motion for Summary Judgement. Moreover, that [Steve] was rehired years later and after [ABC] suspended its COVID-19 vaccine requirement, cannot be considered ‘newly discovered evidence’ that justifies a new trial.” At this time, a judge has not ruled over the new claims.
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