Rockmond Dunbar is going to get his day in court, and he’s got plenty to say about it.
This past weekend, the former 9-1-1 actor took to Instagram to celebrate a small win for his case against 20th Television and Disney, in which he alleges that his firing from the show for not complying with the company’s vaccine mandate was “religious discrimination under the Civil Rights Act,” according to the lawsuit.
In a post to Instagram this past weekend, Dunbar writes that it took “millions in legal costs just to get my rightful day in court,” and that he “lost jobs, associates and ‘fans’ but what I’ve never lost is my FAITH and FAMILY.”
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In his post, Dunbar says that after he left the show, he was “attacked publicly and privately, judged, defamed, and lied on simply for daring to follow MY religion and God’s direction for MY life.”
Dunbar played Michael Grant on 9-1-1, husband then ex-husband to Angela Bassett’s police officer character on the series, which follows the lives of first responders.
He first sued 20th in 2022 over the firing, after “Zone A” actors on the show were sent a memo requesting that they be fully vaccinated by October 18, 2021. Dunbar alerted production that his religious beliefs in connection to the Congregation of Universal Wisdom instructed him that “[t]he injection into the body of medication or other matter of substances that defy natural law” was “sacrilege,” the court filing says. Dunbar’s request for religious exemption from the mandate was denied, and he was dismissed from the production the following month.
Last week, the judge in Dunbar’s case granted a trial, acknowledging a possibility that Dunbar was discriminated against for his religion. Dunbar had originally also sued for racial discrimination, breach of contract, and retaliation in connection with the firing, but those were thrown out by the court.
Dunbar sees the move to trial as a victory over “lies,” according to his Instagram post. “Lies run sprints but the truth runs marathons,” he wrote. “And I’m still standing. Stronger. Healthy. with my soul and integrity intact.”
“Despite this nightmare me and my family have weathered, I would make the same choice again bc nothing and no one on this Earth is or will ever be greater than The Most High,” he continued.
Dunbar has sounded off on Instagram before, as when he caused a stir online for posting on his 50th birthday that he was “30+ yrs. in this business,” and “Never sold my SOUL or asshole.”
