General Hospital actor fired over vaccine mandate returns to show – NewsNation Now

(NEXSTAR) More than two years after being removed from the ABC soap opera General Hospital following a dispute over the COVID-19 vaccine, actor Steve Burton has returned to the show.

Burton appeared on Mondays episode of General Hospital, roughly one month after the actor teased his return in an Instagram video apparently filmed on the shows set.

Hey hey, back at home, Burton told fans at the time.

Burton, who joined the show in 1992 as Jason Morgan, had first revealed to fans in November 2021 that the producers let [him] go because of the vaccine mandate. He explained at the time that he had applied for medical and religious exemptions, but was denied.

ABC confirmed the decision to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, explaining that the networks policy required cast and crew working in areas where actors werent masked to be vaccinated.

The verified Instagram page for General Hospital shared a video of Burton, 53, on Tuesday.

It just feels really good to be back on set with my people, Burton says during the clip, which also shows him walking on set and explaining how hes approaching his character upon his return.

After leaving General Hospital, Burton reprised his Days of Our Lives role as Navy SEAL Harris Michaels on the shows spin-off miniseries Beyond Salem in 2022, and also on Days last year, USA Today reports. Burton announced last month that he would be leaving the series, but a spokesperson told USA Today that his character will remain on the show for the coming months.

Shortly before Burton left General Hospital, the show parted ways with Ingo Rademacher, who had played Jasper Jax Jacks on the soap opera since 1996, for refusing to complywith the shows vaccine mandate. Rademacher later sued ABC over the mandate, but a Los Angeles judge sided with ABC in the case in June 2023.

In November 2022, most Disney shows dropped their vaccine mandates, Deadline reported. (The Walt Disney Company owns ABC.)

Read the rest here:

General Hospital actor fired over vaccine mandate returns to show - NewsNation Now