9-1-1 Actor Rockmond Dunbar Leaves The Show Over Covid-19 Vaccine Mandate
Original 9-1-1 cast member Rockmond Dunbar is quitting the hit Fox drama series after being apart for more than four seasons.
His character, Michael Grant, was suddenly written off in Monday night’s series, which led fans of the first-responders drama startled. According to sources, Dunbar’s parting stems from the new Covid procedures on the show, which requires all actors to be vaccinated.
According to documents, Dunbar petitioned a medical exemption and later pursued a religious exemption. Both were evaluated by Disney and were denied, sources said. According to insiders, Dunbar is not speculated to be an anti-vaxxer but refused to accept the Covid vaccine mandate based on the grounds he presented, which led to his exit from 9-1-1.
Dunbar released a statement to explain his departure.
“I applied for religious and medical accommodations pursuant to the law and unfortunately was denied by my employer,” he said. “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 4 small children. As a man that walks in faith, I look forward to what the future holds.”
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Dunbar went on to say, “I have enjoyed the last 5 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.“
In response to Deadline’s inquiry, a spokesman for 20th Television said: “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.”