(Updated with 20th TV statement) An L.A. jury today unanimously rejected former 9-1-1 star Rockmond Dunbar‘s insistence that Disney-owned 20th Television fired him from the hit Ryan Murphy co-created series because he refused to get the Covid-19 jab over religious convictions.
The verdict came down Friday afternoon after a nearly three-day trial in federal court in DTLA. Seemingly shocked by the outcome, Dunbar was in attendance when the verdict was read out.
Successful in disputing Dunbar’s religious exception status are true and deep, Disney’s 20th TV Friday were almost stoic in their victory. “We are pleased with today’s verdict, which affirms that 20th Television acted fairly and lawfully 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 now nine-season running Fox drama series from its 2018 launch, was suddenly was written off 9-1-1 in late 2021. The pink slipping occurred after the actor had requested a medical exemption and later a religious exemption from the Covid protocols on the show and at Disney that require all actors and Zone A workers to be vaccinated.
In the heat of the pandemic that shut Hollywood, most of America and large swaths of the world for almost a year and a half, Dunbar insisted that as a member of Congregation of Universal Wisdom, allowing injections or chemicals in his body that “defy natural law” was against his faith.
Additionally, his 2022 45-page filing claimed “on information and belief, Disney has a history of racial discrimination, and Mr. Dunbar was subjected to disparate treatment and disparate impact discrimination on the basis of his race.“ Looking for damages in the range of $1 million, the complaint added: On information and belief, non-minority employees similarly situated were not subject to termination when they refused the COVID-19 vaccine.”
In March 2024, District Judge Dolly Gee stripped some of the claims off the case. Consequently. the case became a trilogy of arguments. It all boiled down to whether “(1) whether 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 any reasonable accommodations would have actually been available to Dunbar without undue hardship to Defendants.”
Though they failed to get the matter tossed out last year, Disney unearthed explosive material in discovery that undermined the seriousness of the Walter P. Schilling founded Congregation of Universal Wisdom, as well as Dunbar’s adherence to keeping chemicals out of his body. For instance, all it takes to join the Congregation is a $1 payment to octogenarian Schilling and a promise to stick with the rules he sets.
Additionally, after a battle over medical records and “egregious” withholding of evidence, it turned out that the now 52-year-old Dunbar, like many actors in Hollywood, was not so secretly receiving testosterone injections eight times a month. He was also getting other needle delivered drugs to offset the effects, like breast growth, of the testosterone.
As the realities of Dunbar’s medical needs and situation became public, the Fight Night actor’s lawyers were backed into a corner over their client’s cherry picking of CUW’s beliefs.
Even though Dunbar at one point said he got permission from God on his anti-vaccine stance, the jury didn’t buy it today.
The post Disney Wins Rockmond Dunbar Covid Vaccine Firing Trial; Jury Rejects Ex-‘9-1-1’ Star Claim Of Religious Exemption appeared first on Deadline.
