‘9-1-1’ star Rockmond Dunbar heads to trial against Disney+ in COVID-19 vaccine discrimination suit

Rockmond Dunbar claims his complex religious beliefs prevented him from getting the COVID-19 vaccine. 

After claiming he was wrongfully terminated from the show “9-1-1” for refusing to go against his religious beliefs to get vaccinated against COVID-19, Rockmond Dunbar is meeting Disney+ in court this week.

Disney’s 20th Television is arguing that the 52-year-old actor—whose trial began Tuesday, October 14, according to Variety—fabricated a religious excuse to avoid complying with the company’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

The case dates back to the early pandemic years, when returning to work, school, and everyday life hinged on strict vaccine, masking, and testing requirements. Dunbar refused to take the shot, citing his faith as the reason, and when his request for a religious exemption was denied, he was written off the show entirely. 

Dunbar, who played Michael Grant on “9-1-1,” claims to be a member of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom while also following a mix of Buddhist and African Yoruba faiths. His attorneys argue that he doesn’t have to perfectly adhere to every tenet of the Congregation for his beliefs to be protected under federal law. 

In a pre-trial memo, they wrote, “Since at least 2014, 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.”

Founded in the 1970s by New Jersey chiropractor Walter Schilling, the Congregation of Universal Wisdom is an obscure spiritual group that teaches vaccines and other medical interventions, including surgery, violate natural law. The church maintains that introducing foreign substances into the body interferes with the soul’s purity and its ability to communicate with God. Membership is granted primarily through signed declarations of belief rather than organized worship, and its doctrine has been cited in other vaccination cases. 

Still, questions have surfaced about Dunbar’s credibility. Disney’s legal team has pointed to his use of steroids and synthetic testosterone injections as evidence that he has previously embraced forms of Western medicine that contradict his supposed beliefs. Dunbar’s lawyers sought to block those medical records from being introduced at trial, but a judge ruled they were admissible as evidence regarding the sincerity of his faith.

Dunbar, for his part, insists he “is not against western medicine that is made with God’s consent or that does not cloud my communication with God,” according to Variety. 

When asked why the COVID-19 vaccine was different, the actor said God personally told him not to take it. 

“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,” he said. “And they chose to do it. So that was their spiritual test, and they failed.”

The trial, now underway in Los Angeles federal court, will allow a jury to determine whether Dunbar’s beliefs were sincerely held or merely a pretext to avoid vaccination. Dunbar, his wife, Maya, and “9-1-1” showrunner Tim Minear are expected to testify.