{"id":1076741,"date":"2021-12-02T13:29:29","date_gmt":"2021-12-02T18:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1076741"},"modified":"2021-12-02T13:29:34","modified_gmt":"2021-12-02T18:29:34","slug":"longest-running-soap-on-tv-sees-major-departures-due-to-vaccine-mandates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/longest-running-soap-on-tv-sees-major-departures-due-to-vaccine-mandates\/","title":{"rendered":"Longest-Running Soap On TV Sees Major Departures Due To Vaccine Mandates"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">22<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flongest-running-soap-on-tv-sees-major-departures-due-to-vaccine-mandates%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1076741&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>\u201cGeneral Hospital,\u201d the longest-running soap opera on television, has been rocked with departures following the implementation of a Covid vaccine mandate.<\/p>\n<p>In recent weeks, two of the show\u2019s most-popular and well-established actors were fired over vaccine requirements imposed by Disney-owned ABC that went into effect on November 1.<\/p>\n<p>Ingo Rademacher, who has played bad-boy Jasper \u201cJax\u201d Jacks since 1996, is an outspoken conservative who had drawn the ire of castmates in the past for his criticism of transgender Assistant Secretary for Health, Rachel Levine. He had also been openly critical of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, sharing calls for walkouts by health care and government workers on his social media accounts.<\/p>\n<p>On November 7, the actor posted an anti-mandate statement to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/CV-1mzFvx2W\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Instagram<\/a>, saying, \u201cI will stand with you to fight for medical freedom.\u201d The next day, sources told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hollywoodreporter.com\/tv\/tv-news\/general-hospital-ingo-rademacher-out-1235044072\/\">The Hollywood Reporter<\/a> he had been fired from the show. Rademacher\u2019s final episode aired on Monday, November 22.<\/p>\n<p>Just one day later, on November 23, Rademacher\u2019s co-star Steve Burton \u2014 who has played General Hospital mob boss Jason Morgan for 30 years \u2014 announced in an&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/tv\/CWoRbqWj5Uj\/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link\">Instagram<\/a>&nbsp;video that he, too, had been fired over his refusal to get vaccinated:<\/p>\n<p><em>I wanted you to hear it from me personally. Unfortunately, \u2018General Hospital\u2019 has let me go because of the vaccine mandate. I did apply for my medical and religious exemptions, and both of those were denied. Which, you know, hurts. But this is also about personal freedom to me. I don\u2019t think anybody should lose their livelihood over this.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>But with that being said, you know me, I\u2019ll always be grateful for my time at \u2018General Hospital.\u2019 I love it there. I grew up there. I grew up with some of you\u2026Maybe one day, if these mandate are lifted, I can return and finish my career as Jason Morgan.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Burton had already contracted COVID-19 in August, and likely has natural immunity, but it appears ABC was not willing to take that into consideration. His storyline was concluded on November 30 by revealing that his character had been killed off-screen during a tunnel collapse. According to <a href=\"https:\/\/variety.com\/2021\/tv\/news\/general-hospital-steve-burton-vaccine-mandate-firing-no-plans-recast-jason-1235122194\/#recipient_hashed=5552b9c6c5b4315c5fd99322aecd86e6054fec29feaccc1d96154eedbdbcfd64\">Variety<\/a>, ABC has no plans to recast Morgan\u2019s role.<\/p>\n<p>As The Daily Wire has previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/espn-reporter-leaving-network-over-vaccine-mandate-power-given-is-seldom-returned\">reported<\/a>, former ESPN sports anchor Allison Williams was ousted in October for her refusal to get the vaccine. ESPN, too, is owned by Disney.<\/p>\n<p>Williams subsequently accepted a job with The Daily Wire. At the time of her departure from ESPN, she said:<\/p>\n<p><em>I also want people to know who support these mandates that I fight for you. Because if this is the direction we take our country, there will come a time when the government or corporations mandate you to get something that does not align with your values. Power given is seldom returned. And when that day comes, I want you to at least know that we fought, and we tried.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a&nbsp;<\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cGeneral Hospital,\u201d the longest-running soap opera on television, has been rocked with departures following the implementation of a Covid vaccine mandate.In recent weeks, two of the show\u2019s most-popular and well-established actors were fired over vaccine requirements imposed by Disney-owned ABC that went into effect on November 1.Ingo Rademacher, who has played bad-boy Jasper \u201cJax\u201d Jacks since 1996, is an outspoken conservative who had drawn the ire of castmates in the past for his criticism of transgender Assistant Secretary for Health, Rachel Levine. He had also been openly critical of COVID-19 vaccine mandates, sharing calls for walkouts by health care and government workers on his social media accounts.On November 7, the actor posted an anti-mandate statement to Instagram, saying, \u201cI will stand with you to fight for medical freedom.\u201d The next day, sources told The Hollywood Reporter he had been fired from the show. Rademacher\u2019s final episode aired on Monday, November 22.Just one day later, on November 23, Rademacher\u2019s co-star Steve Burton \u2014 who has played General Hospital mob boss Jason Morgan for 30 years \u2014 announced in an\u00a0Instagram\u00a0video that he, too, had been fired over his refusal to get vaccinated:I wanted you to hear it from me personally. Unfortunately, \u2018General Hospital\u2019 has let me go because of the vaccine mandate. I did apply for my medical and religious exemptions, and both of those were denied. Which, you know, hurts. But this is also about personal freedom to me. I don\u2019t think anybody should lose their livelihood over this.But with that being said, you know me, I\u2019ll always be grateful for my time at \u2018General Hospital.\u2019 I love it there. I grew up there. I grew up with some of you\u2026Maybe one day, if these mandate are lifted, I can return and finish my career as Jason Morgan.Burton had already contracted COVID-19 in August, and likely has natural immunity, but it appears ABC was not willing to take that into consideration. His storyline was concluded on November 30 by revealing that his character had been killed off-screen during a tunnel collapse. According to Variety, ABC has no plans to recast Morgan\u2019s role.As The Daily Wire has previously reported, former ESPN sports anchor Allison Williams was ousted in October for her refusal to get the vaccine. ESPN, too, is owned by Disney.Williams subsequently accepted a job with The Daily Wire. At the time of her departure from ESPN, she said:I also want people to know who support these mandates that I fight for you. Because if this is the direction we take our country, there will come a time when the government or corporations mandate you to get something that does not align with your values. Power given is seldom returned. And when that day comes, I want you to at least know that we fought, and we tried.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a\u00a0member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1076741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1076741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1076741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1076741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1076741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1076741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}