Rockmond Dunbar alleges he was discriminated against by his former employers last year due to disagreements over vaccine mandates, and now his complaint will be heard in the courtroom. In November, it was reported that Dunbar was leaving from his role in the hit series 9-1-1 as he did not wish to comply with the COVID-19 vaccine mandates enforced for the cast and crew. The actor has now sued 20th Television and parent company Disney claiming the studio engaged in discrimination and even prohibited Dunbar from getting work elsewhere.

Prominently featured on the series from the very start, Dunbar says he’d requested a medical exemption along with a religious exemption in regards to the vaccine mandate. He argues that he is not an “anti-vaxxer” by definition but simply could not take the vaccination because of his religion. The actor claims that when Disney reviewed these requests, they were rejected with the studio allegedly retaliating against Dunbar by “making an example” out of him.

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“In retaliation, Defendants summarily terminated Mr. Dunbar’s employment agreement, and refused to pay him the hundreds of thousands of dollars that are still owed to him,” the lawsuit states, per Deadline. “Then, wanting to make an example out of Mr. Dunbar, he believes that Defendants wrongfully leaked negative information to the media about his departure from 9-1-1 including that he sought both religious and medical exemptions that were denied. Defendants deliberately made it sound like Mr. Dunbar was a recalcitrant anti-vaxxer, rather than present the truth – that like millions of other Americans, he is a sincere adherent to a non-mainstream religious belief that prevents him from being vaccinated.”

Dunbar, who’s “adherent to the teachings of the Church of Universal Wisdom,” alleges that studio violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the California Fair Employment Housing Act, and common law principles of contract law. He’s seeking more than $1.3 in damages as well as “wide-ranging other damages and injunctions.”

“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,” the filing adds. “On information and belief, non-minority employees similarly situated were not subject to termination when they refused the COVID-19 vaccine.”

While not commenting directly on the lawsuit, a rep for Disney stated, “We take the health and safety of all of our employees very seriously, and have implemented a mandatory vaccination confirmation process for those working in Zone A on our productions. In order to ensure a safer workplace for all, Zone A personnel who do not confirm their vaccination status and do not meet the criteria for exemption will not be eligible to work.”

Vaccination and Mandate Policies Have Affected Multiple Productions

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There have been other instances of movie and TV productions running into problems keeping actors involved over these kinds of vaccine mandates. Ice Cube was set to co-star with Jack Black in the upcoming comedy Oh Hell No before dropping out due to a vaccine mandate. Ant-Man and the Wasp star Evangeline Lilly has also spoken out recently about vaccine mandates, arguing her position that while she’s not an anti-vaxxer, she does not support enforcing the mandates.

“This is not the way. This is not safe. This is not healthy. This is not love. I understand the world is in fear, but I don’t believe that answering fear with force will fix our problems. I was pro choice before COVID and I am still pro choice today,” Lilly said in an Instagram post, sharing photos she’d taken at an anti-mandate rally.

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9-1-1 first started airing on Fox in 2018. Following the lives of Los Angeles first responders, the series was created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk, and Tim Minear. It stars Angela Bassett, Peter Krause, Oliver Stark, Asina Hinds, Kenneth Choi, Connie Britton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, and Ryan Guzman.

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A post shared by Evangeline Lilly (@evangelinelillyofficial)

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