Three years ago, 9-1-1 actor Rockmond Dunbar sued Disney and 20th Television for firing his character from the show after he refused to get vaccinated against covid. Dunbar, who cited both religious and medical exemptions, was seeking over one million in lost wages and compensation. In his lawsuit he noted that other, white co-stars and crew had sought medical exemptions which were granted, but that he was punished and ultimately fired. Dunbar has now lost his suit following a jury trial. Variety has the details of the case and how he responded in court.
A jury on Friday rejected “9-1-1” actor Rockmond Dunbar‘s claim that he was fired from the show due to his religious conviction against getting the COVID-19 vaccine.
The eight-member federal jury found unanimously in favor of Disney-owned 20th Television. When the verdict was read, Dunbar put his head in his hands.
“Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God!” he shouted, and then turned to his wife and children, who were sitting in the gallery. “I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry. We’ll be okay.”
Dunbar sued the company in 2022, alleging that the production failed to accommodate his belief in the tenets of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom, which disapproves of vaccines and other medical interventions.
Dunbar’s character, Michael Grant, was written out of the show in 2021, once the company imposed a vaccine mandate on actors and crew members on set. During a four-day trial in Los Angeles, Dunbar testified about his belief that the COVID vaccine is harmful and against God’s teachings.
“Man created the COVID-19 vaccine to separate you from God,” he said. “This is a spiritual war. This is a war of evil against good. I stood on the side of good. I stood on the side of God. I stood on the shoulders of God.”
Disney’s lawyers, led by Maria Rodriguez of McDermott Will & Schulte, argued that Dunbar lacked credibility. She noted that Dunbar routinely takes synthetic testosterone and anastrozole, which the leader of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom called “sacrilegious.”
Dunbar acknowledged on the witness stand that he is not “perfect.” In her closing argument, Rodriguez scrolled through a list of 37 medications Dunbar has taken.
“This is way far from perfect,” she said. “This isn’t even close.”
Dunbar testified that he was making $100,000 an episode, and was paid even for episodes in which his character did not appear.
“It was a dream job,” he said. “It was like winning the lottery.”
Variety goes on to say that Dunbar admits he’s dead broke and has spent his entire retirement. In his testimony in court, he also made ludicrous and false claims that the Covid vaccine has killed more people than it’s saved, that’s it’s made with aborted fetal cells and that the Pfizer vaccine has “six foreign objects” in it that can’t be identified. If I learned anything from true crime podcasts I can assume his lawyers advised him not to testify and he insisted on it.
Imagine having a cushy job that pays over $1.5 million a year and blowing it all because you believe some cult nonsense that vaccines aren’t godly. Meanwhile the guy is taking testosterone and estrogen blockers. This is how I felt about the nurses bitching in 2020 that they didn’t want to get vaccinated for covid. Many of them had obvious botox and fillers but the covid vaccine was a step too far for them. It’s well within the rights of a company to insist that workers be vaccinated and to fire them if they refuse. This was an expensive lesson Dunbar learned. He still seems to be getting roles, he has three IMDB credits last year and four this year, but he’s not going to earn anything close to his 9-1-1 job.
photos credit: Chip Bergmann/Perry Well Films 2/Courtesy Netflix and Getty Images for Netflix.
The outcome may have been different had the trial been held in Florida. Los Angeles has no sympathy for doing the bare minimum here. I’m willing to bet that none of the jury members had any sympathy for him. And I will also add the rules are different for him than some his co-stars in the industry, and he should know that by now. LA doesn’t play and they no problem writing you out especially if you’re not the marquee player.
Yup, this right here.☝️
I doubt it was lack of sympathy but an obvious refusal to be vaccinated. Funny how religious or medically unable people become when it came to Covid. I don’t know how his lawyers thought they could win considering all of the other medications he took. The only excuse would be allergies to the vaccine.
I find it ironic that the show was 911 that he lost due to his disinformation about vaccines.
He did this to himself.
Ridiculous.
I hope he’s happy with the loss of income, and the way he’s jeopardized his ability to support his family – which actually is mentioned in the Bible and highly frowned upon.
I can’t stand fake ass crazy ass Christians.
I. Can’t. Even.
I bet the actor who played his husband loved his political standoff. He too lost a nice and cushy job, but in that case through no fault of his own.
People who mess up these cushy tv jobs get no sympathy from me. Someone asked Ice T once if he was retiring from SVU and it’s like…why on earth would he???
The judiciary is currently the only part of our government that is functioning to protect us and democracy.
Anti-vaxxers should be sent to an island like lepers.
Kids are starting to die from measles and whooping cough again.
Eventually they are going to bring polio back.
So, enjoy the iron lungs and paralysis- younger generations!
I worked in a hospital during the pandemic. 97% of our staff got vaccinated. The 3% that didn’t were given leave without pay until they complied. A few did. The rest no longer work in health care. Some tried to sue but got nowhere. Every workplace has its own sets of rules but in a hospital setting you don’t get to play the “I’m an ignorant ass and Covid doesn’t exist” card and get away with it. Zero sympathy.
I worked in a teaching hospital Pulmonary & Critical Care department when I was in my 20s. I didn’t get an annual flu shot because I was concerned about getting the flu myself, I got it because I didn’t want to kill our patients. When you work in a clinical setting, you need to do more than safeguard yourself from infection – part of your job is ensuring you do not put the patients at risk and that means doing things, like getting vaccinated, to prevent spreading illness
The power of propaganda is truly astounding.
I think the real question we need to ask is what happened to all the money? He’s been working for DECADES and he spent all their money or their church spent all their money. A fool and their money are easily parted. Good luck sir.
They always say that because they desperately need to seen as “victims”. He most likely banked a lot of his money into an interest earning investment account. The man is married with multiple children and we never hear about him (except for this lawsuit). He’s not living the extreme high life of a lot of celebrities. He’s being smart with his money. I’m sure they are fine. He’s worked on 9 projects since this started so he’s still getting hired. He’s a really good actor and he’ll keep getting jobs. If he can keep his narcissistic mouth shut he can even get some really good jobs.
It seems as if the racial discrimination component either was dismissed or didn’t have legs. The rest of it is garden variety religious discrimination that he undermined by also taking tons of medications that aren’t approved either.
Another cautionary tale from the ongoing series where people are shown that they’re entitled to their own opinions but not their own facts.
I’m sure that his god woud not only frown upon his taking dozens of (harmful or ineffective) supplements but also complain about putting tattoo dyes into his body, which often accumulate in lymph nodes.
But hey, vaccines. Some people will never learn…
Must be nice to be a man who say bonkers shit like this publicly and still get hired. Stood on the shoulders of God? Good grief.
“Man created the COVID-19 vaccine to separate you from God,” he said. “This is a spiritual war. This is a war of evil against good. I stood on the side of good. I stood on the side of God. I stood on the shoulders of God.“
Side note:
It is not a coincidence that all the politicians/tech bros/podcaster dudes taking testosterone always see everything as a war and see themselves as standing on the shoulders of God and suddenly become republicans. Perhaps we should go after Testosterone as aggressively as they are with birth control? Can you imagine if access to testosterone was threatened?
I envision a South Park vignette where the veins of all the testo boys begin to explode in Pollock like fashion- to symphony music.
It’s funny because the person who convinced him that Covid was a hoax and not to take the vaccine, took the vaccine. He has over $1.5 million worth of egg in his face from following a grifting cult leader.
maybe he can get a job working for Robert Kennedy. sounds like they are pretty aligned.