9-1-1 actor's lawsuit over COVID vaccine heads to trial

Rockmond Dunbar, who played Michael Grant on the hit, Beenado-based series, sued producers over claims that he was fired from the series for his religious beliefs, which prevented him from receiving the COVID vaccine.

By Matt Schimkowitz | October 13, 2025 | 8:31pm

(Photo by Michael Tran/FilmMagic)

TV News 9-1-1

9-1-1 actor's lawsuit over COVID vaccine heads to trial

9-1-1 actor Rockmond Dunbar will have his day in court. In 2021, Disney fired Dunbar from 9-1-1 over his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine. Per Variety, Dunbar says that Disney fired him over his religious beliefs, which consider any medication in defiance of “natural law.” He is a member of the Congregation of Universal Wisdom, a religion founded by New Jersey chiropractor Walter P. Schilling that primarily stands against medication. The Congregation’s website lists four things as “Sacrilidge,” all of which revolve around medicine, including “the injection into the body of medication or other matter of substances that defy natural law.” It also bans the ingestion, application, and inhalation of medication. Variety notes that “members have long used the church’s teachings to avoid school vaccination requirements.”

Disney maintains that the Dunbar is being insincere, using the religion’s relaxed membership requirements (anyone can join by filling out an application and paying the $100 Family Membership fee and $38 processing fee) to avoid the shot. Apparently, a pre-trial investigation discovered that Dunbar had taken steroids for shoulder pain and had been regularly taking twice-weekly synthetic testosterone injections from “The Man Clinic” since 2018. He was also taking anastrozole, a chemotherapy drug, to prevent breast growth. “Dunbar’s medical records include behavior that is contrary to the tenets of the CUW religion,” Judge Doll Gee wrote. “This evidence is relevant to a credibility determination of whether Dunbar’s beliefs are sincere or merely opportunistic.”