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.”
Dunbar said he is “not an anti-vaxxer,” but testified that his children have not received any vaccines.
He also told the jury that he believes the vaccine has killed more people than COVID-19, and that the vaccine was made with aborted fetal cells and contains “disease.” He also testified that six foreign objects have been found in the Pfizer vaccine that cannot be identified under a microscope.
Disney’s lawyers called Dr. Glenn Braunstein, who had consulted for the company during the pandemic, and who testified that there is no live disease or fetal cells in any of the vaccines. He was also asked about the claim the foreign objects seen under the microscope.
“Hogwash,” he said. “It’s a ridiculous concept.”
Scott Street, Dunbar’s attorney, argued that his willingness to sacrifice his job underscores the sincerity of his religious views, which he said are no less real for being outside the mainstream.
“What matters is whether he is true to himself and true to his belief,” Street said. “It doesn’t have to be right. There are plenty of beliefs that are right, wrong, kooky — who cares? What matters is whether you believe them. It’s not up to your employer to question your belief.”
In her closing argument, Rodriguez stated that the company was not there to “judge religion.” But she questioned whether Dunbar was seeking to pass off his sincere, but non-religious, opposition to the vaccine as a religious belief.
She also argued that Dunbar failed to engage in an interactive process with his employer to accommodate the issue, suggesting that the situation could have been resolved more favorably if Dunbar had communicated better.
In a statement, 20th Television said, “We are pleased with today’s verdict, which affirms that 20th Television acted fairly and lawfully toward Mr. Dunbar.”
Asked for comment outside court, Dunbar said, “God still won today.”
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