Rockmond Dunbar Loses Vaccine Lawsuit Against Disney

Last week actor Rockmond Dunbar faced off against Disney in federal court after he was fired from the hit TV series '911' for refusing the Covid-19 vaccination [click here if you missed that]. 

The verdict was swift and Dunbar had an outburst in court after testifying that he lost everything fighting the case...

From Variety

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.”

Dunbar testified that since his firing, he has struggled to find work.

“I’m underwater. I’ve spent my entire retirement,” he said. “This has taken my life into a hole financially that I will never be able to get out of.”

But he said he had acted on instruction from God not to take the vaccine, and stands by that.

“Take my cars, my money — I don’t care. You have to leave here with your soul intact,” he said. “This is my spiritual test and I passed.”