(Updated with 20th televised statement) A Los Angeles jury today unanimously rejected the former 9-1-1 star Rockmond Dunbar’s insistence that Disney-owned 20th Television fired him from the hit series co-created by Ryan Murphy because he refused to receive the Covid-19 vaccine due to his religious beliefs.
The verdict came Friday afternoon after a nearly three-day trial in DTLA federal court. Apparently shocked by the outcome, Dunbar was present when the verdict was read.
Having successfully challenged Dunbar’s religious exception status, Disney’s 20th TV Friday was almost stoic in its victory. “We are pleased with today’s verdict, which affirms that 20th Television acted fairly and legally toward Mr. Dunbar,” a spokesperson for the House of Mouse division said.
Dunbar, who played Michael, the ex-husband of Angela Bassett’s character, on the Fox drama series that has now run for nine seasons since its 2018 launch, was suddenly written off 9-1-1 in late 2021. The pink slip occurred after the actor requested a medical exemption and then a religious exemption from the show’s and Disney’s Covid protocols that require all actors and workers in Zone A to be vaccinated.
In the heat of the pandemic that shut down Hollywood, most of America and large parts of the world for nearly a year and a half, Dunbar insisted that as a member of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom, allowing injections or chemicals into one’s body that “defy natural law” was against his faith.
Additionally, its 45-page 2022 filing asserted “based on information and belief, Disney has a history of racial discrimination, and Mr. Dunbar has been subject to disparate treatment and disparate impact discrimination on the basis of his race.” The complaint seeks damages in the range of $1 million: “Based on information and belief, similarly situated non-minority employees were not terminated when they refused the COVID-19 vaccine. »
In March 2024, District Judge Dolly Gee withdrew some claims from the case. Therefore. the case became a trilogy of arguments. It all came down to whether “(1) Dunbar had a sincerely held religious belief within the meaning of Title VII; (2) whether defendants failed to engage in the interactive process; and (3) whether reasonable accommodations would actually have been available to Dunbar without undue hardship to Defendants. »
Although they failed to get the case thrown out last year, Disney discovered explosive materials that undermined the seriousness of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom founded by Walter P. Schilling, as well as Dunbar’s adherence to keeping chemicals out of his body. For example, to join the Congregation, all you need to do is pay $1 to octogenarian Schilling and agree to respect the rules he sets.
Additionally, after a battle over medical records and a “blatant” withholding of evidence, it turned out that Dunbar, now 52, like many actors in Hollywood, was not-so-secretly receiving testosterone injections eight times a month. He was also receiving other medications given by injection to offset the effects of testosterone, such as breast growth.
As the realities of Dunbar’s medical needs and situation became public, the fight night The actor’s lawyers were cornered over their client’s cherry-picking of CUW beliefs.
Even though Dunbar said at one point that he had God’s permission for his anti-vaccine stance, the jury didn’t believe him today.
