Rockmond Dunbar, an original cast member of the TV series 911, previously refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic and has filed a lawsuit against 20th Century Television. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the studio had required actors to get the COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the vaccine mandates. Due to Dunbar’s refusal to take the shot, the studio fired him and now, he is pressing charges.
20th Television will be facing a trial on religious discrimination. According to THR, U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee found that 20th Television had discriminated against Dunbar in the context of the firing the actor when he refused to take the vaccine. Judge Gee expressed that the studio never provided Dunbar any sort of exemption to the vaccine on the terms of religion. The actor is a member of the Church of Universal Wisdom, and the trial is set to conclude if he had any sort of belief within his religion that would give him any sort of exemption to the vaccine.
If the studio is found guilty, it will create a ripple effect in the way that other studios handle any sort of religious exemptions towards vaccines or other mandates. This also comes after when Dunbar approached Disney with the same legal threat. The court ruled in favor of Disney as Dunbar was determined as “not a true believer in the Church of Universal Wisdom” according to THR.
Judge Gee had expressed to the Supreme Court that trials based on religious practices and beliefs are always a tender subject. The judge said that the “determination of what is a religious belief is more often than not a difficult and delicate task.”
She continues, “And so it is here, defendants identify evidence that seems to undermine the sincerity of Dunbar’s religious beliefs, but Dunbar has also presented evidence that suggests — under a lower than preponderance burden — that his beliefs are strongly held and genuine nonetheless.”