He's played the character of Jax on the iconic soap opera General Hospital for 25 years, but actor Ingo Rademacher's stint on the show is coming to an abrupt end—all because of his refusal to be vaccinated and his transphobic Instagram posts.
It is unknown if Rademacher resigned or was fired.
But Rademacher has been outspoken with his anti-vaxx stance for several months. The show's vaccine mandate for its cast is being cited as the reason for his departure.
And from the sounds of it, some of his castmates aren't exactly going to miss him. Rademacher's anti-vaccine drama coincided with another controversy on the General Hospital set following a transphobic tweet he recently posted to his Instagram story.
Cassandra James, one of Rademacher's GH costars and a trans woman, took to Twitter to express her anger toward her former colleague for his post.
James was unsparing in her criticism of her colleague.
Speaking to Rademacher directly without naming him, she said:
"Shame on you. You have some serious unlearning and education to do. I feel deeply disappointed that such a public display of ignorance could come from our GH family."
Rademacher's Instagram story, which has since expired, included a tweet from a conservative commentator about Dr. Rachel Levine, a trans woman serving as an admiral in the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
Rademacher was called out for sharing the tweet, which mocked Levine's appearance and misgendered her as a "dude."
Rademacher posted an apology in an Instagram video that arguably just made the whole thing worse.
In the video, Rademacher explains he should have crossed out the word "dude" but specified calling Levine a woman is inappropriate.
"I don't think its okay to call a transgender an empowered woman because where does that leave women?"
He then went on to apologize to James by complimenting her looks repeatedly.
"Cassandra, I apologize to you sincerely. I think you're an absolute talent and you're very beautiful as well. I don't think a transphobic man would say that. I think you're absolutely gorgeous, I really do."
James has yet to comment on Rademacher's apology, but costar Nancy Lee Grahn was certainly not impressed, going so far as to express relief Rademacher has "mercifully" quit or been fired from General Hospital.
On Twitter, many people were disgusted by Rademacher and cheered his departure from the show.
Rademacher will continue to appear on General Hospital through November 22 in episodes shot before his exit.
