Posted in: ABC, TV | Tagged: ABC, COVID, General Hospital, Steve Burton

General Hospital: Steve Burton Confirms Departure Over COVID Mandates

Published Tue, 23 Nov 2021 14:39:09 -0600

Only a few weeks after his General Hospital co-star Ingo Rademacher parted way with the long-running ABC soap opera, viewers learned that long-time cast member Steve Burton would also be leaving the soap due to his refusal to comply with the production's Covid-19 vaccine mandate. "I know there's been a lot of rumors and speculations about me and 'General Hospital' and I wanted you to hear it from me personally. Unfortunately, 'General Hospital' has let me go because of the vaccine mandate," Burton said in a video statement he posted to Instagram earlier today (with Burton reportedly having filmed his last episode on October 27 and his character Jason Morgan listed as MIA after a storyline tunnel collapse).

Here's a look at Burton's social media post from earlier today:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Steve Burton (@1steveburton)

Earlier this month, it was announced that Rademacher (aka Jasper "Jax" Jacks) would no longer be a part of the cast (with his last episode airing yesterday) over his public opposition to and failure to comply with COVID-19 vaccination mandates. At the time it was reported by Deadline Hollywood that "another longtime cast member departure is widely rumored (though not confirmed) to be imminent for similar reasons," which would now appear to be Burton. Rademacher's departure also came in the midst of backlash he was receiving over controversial comments regarding transgender people from his castmates and social media when he reposted a tweet via his Instagram account that called U.S. Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine a "dude." The Biden-appointee was recently sworn in as the first transgender four-star officer. General Hospital castmates Nancy Lee Grahn and transgender actor Cassandra James publically condemned Rademacher's move, with the actor then posting a video on Instagram apologizing for not crossing out the word "dude" when he re-posted the tweet (but doubling down on his belief that calling "a transgender an empowered woman" wasn't cool with him).