Actor Rockmond Dunbar is set to go to trial this week after suing 20^th Television and parent company Disney for discrimination, claiming he was fired from 9-1-1 for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19.

Dunbar played Michael Grant in the first five seasons of the drama before being written out in November 2021, a month after vaccine mandates for studios came into force.

As a member of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom, a Church where it is said to be “sacrilege” to inject “into the body medication or other matter of substances that defy natural law”, having the jab was against his religious beliefs, the actor has said.

The 24,000-member Church, which has no specific place of worship and simply requires completing an application form to join, was founded by New Jersey chiropractor Dr Walter Schilling and has been used by parents looking to avoid having their children vaccinated, quoting religious exemptions set out in the 1964 Civil Rights Act.

Lawyers for Disney and 20th Television have claimed that Dunbar’s reasons for avoiding the vaccine were not based on legitimate religious beliefs and allege to have discovered he had taken other medication, including steroids for shoulder pain and injections of synthetic testosterone.

Dunbar’s lawyers have countered this by saying he has a “nuanced” set of religious beliefs which include teachings from the Congregation of Universal Wisdom, Buddhism and the Yoruba faith, practised mainly in Nigeria. They have argued that their client did not need to be a perfect believer in the teachings of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom to be legally protected from discrimination.

“Since at least 2014, [the] plaintiff has held sincere religious beliefs that prevent him from receiving vaccines because he believes they will tether his soul to Earth, thereby preventing him from ascending to be with God after his death,” Dunbar’s lawyers were quoted as saying by Variety.

They also sought to bar the actor’s medical records from being used at trial, claiming they were irrelevant to the case, but judge Dolly Gee disagreed. She said they include “behaviour that is contrary to the tenets of the CUW religion” and such evidence is vital to determine the credibility of “whether Dunbar’s beliefs are sincere or merely opportunistic”.

When questioned about why the other jabs were permitted, Dunbar said he got his answers by conversing with God.

“I believe God told everybody in this world, before they sat down or as they sat down to receive the shot, to not get it,” said the actor, who has also been seen opposite Wentworth Miller in Prison Break, and in Sons of Anarchy.

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