ABC Fires Back At Ex-General Hospital Star Ingo Rademacher After He Drags Steve Burton into Drama

Ingo Rademacher is trying to take ABC back to court over his 2021 firing from General Hospital, and he brought former co-star Steve Burton into it.

ABC asked a judge to shut down fired General Hospital star Ingo Rademacher’s plea for a trial against the network, months after his lawsuit was dismissed, due to alleged new evidence, In Touch can exclusively report.

According to court documents obtained by In Touch, American Broadcasting Companies, who own the television channel ABC that airs the long-running soap opera, pleaded for Ingo’s motion to be denied.

Ingo sued ABC in 2021, claiming he was wrongfully terminated from his role as Jasper ‘Jax’ Jacks, which he played on and off for 25 years, after he refused to comply with ABC’s mandatory COVID-19 vaccine policy for cast and crew.

Ingo asked the network for a religious exemption from the vaccine. However, he said the executives denied his request and fired him for refusing.

He claimed the network’s decision was a violation of his right to privacy and also accused them of religious discrimination and retaliation.

In court, Ingo also claimed General Hospital producers had problems with his political views and support for Donald Trump — which he believes played a role in his firing.

ABC denied all of Ingo’s allegations of wrongdoing. The network claimed that Ingo’s decision to not get the vaccine was not based on any religious belief. In June 2023, a L.A. judge dismissed the case and sided with ABC before a trial. Ingo appealed the decision.

As In Touch first reported, Ingo recently asked for a trial.

He pointed out that his former costar Steve Burton, who was also fired over his refusal to get the vaccine, was rehired by General Hospital in January 2024.

Ingo’s lawyer said, “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.”

His lawyer added, “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.”

“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,” his lawyer said.

Ingo’s lawyer claimed, “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.” Now, lawyers for ABC scoffed at the alleged new evidence being Steve, 54, was rehired. ABC said Steve being rehired is “completely irrelevant, inadmissible and would not raise a triable issue of fact in this case.”

The lawyers for ABC said Steve was rehired in 2024, “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.”

Further, the attorney for the network said, “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.”

A judge has yet to rule.

via: In Touch Weekly

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