Former 9-1-1 Actor Rockmond Dunbar is taking Disney and 20th Television to court following his exit from the TV series due to his COVID-19 vaccine mandate exemption.
According to Entertainment Weekly, in the suit filed Thursday, Dunbar alleged that his firing from Disney’s show violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the California Fair Employment Housing Act, among others.
According to People, he is accusing the studios of racial discrimination. In the lawsuit, Dunbar noted his tenure as the only Black male lead on the series, alleging that he did not receive an exemption when other “non-minority” 9-1-1 cast and crew did on a set that required vaccinations.
The lawsuit read, “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,” according to Deadline. “On information and belief, non-minority employees similarly situated were not subject to termination when they refused the COVID-19 vaccine.”
According to Variety, the administrators who work for [the studios] never took Mr. Dunbar’s requests for accommodations seriously,” the lawsuit states. “They openly mocked his beliefs and proceeded to deny Mr. Dunbar his accommodations based on nothing more than rank hearsay and assumptions. Defendants refused to believe Mr. Dunbar’s doctor’s recommendation, and they refused to engage with Mr. Dunbar in any meaningful interactive communication regarding his religious beliefs.”
Dunbar says his COVID-19 related dismissal has also severely damaged his career.
Dunbar portrayed Michael Grant for five seasons on 9-1-1 before being abruptly written off last year.
The actor confirmed his departure telling Deadline, “I applied for religious and medical accommodations pursuant to the law and unfortunately was denied by my employer.”
“My sincerely held beliefs and private medical history are very intimate and personal aspects of my life that I do not publicly discuss and have no desire to start now. I’ve been an actor in this business for 30 years, but my greatest roles are as a husband and father to our four small children. As a man that walks in faith, I look forward to what the future holds,” he said. “I have enjoyed the last five seasons with this wonderful cast and crew and will cherish the time I’ve been blessed to spend with this series and wish everyone involved nothing but the best.”
Dunbar says the studios terminated his employment agreements and refused to pay him the hundreds of thousands of dollars still owed to him. The actor also said the studios “wrongfully leaked negative information” about his firing to the media to “deliberately make it sound” like he was an anti-vaxxer. As a result, Dunbar has “become persona non grata in his industry.”
