Ingo Rademacher will no longer be on “General Hospital.”
Rademacher, who has been on the classic soap since 1996, will appear in his last episode on November 22, according to a report from People. He will no longer be on the show because he declined to abide by ABC’s mandatory vaccine mandate.
Before the mandate controversy, Rademacher, who played Jasper “Jax” Jacks on and off for more than two decades, came under fire after he reposted a transphobic tweet on his Instagram story.
In the tweet, the actor misgendered Rachel Levine, who is transgender and is now the admiral of the U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps. Rademacher called Levine a “dude” and contemplated how Levine could be seen as an empowered woman.
Two of the actor’s costars, Cassandra James, who is transgender, and Nancy Lee Grahn, called out Rademacher for the tweet.
On Monday, Rademacher posted a three-minute video to his official Instagram page where he explained the message and why he should not have said the word “dude.” He mentioned how he does not think “it’s okay to call a transgender an empowered woman because where does that leave women?”
“I do apologize for not crossing out ‘dude’ and putting ‘transgender,’” he said. “I apologize for that. Me, personally, I wouldn’t have written it that way. That was somebody else’s post. Again, that’s not an excuse. I should have just pointed it out.”
The actor refused to discuss his status on the show and explained how he would “comment on that later.” Rademacher added,” I will get back in touch with everybody and fill you guys in on what’s happening when I can.”
In the message, he also apologized to his former costar James.
“Cassandra, I apologize to you as well, sincerely,” he said. “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.”
On Sunday, James posted a tweet that said she was “aware of a transphobic post shared by a fellow General Hospital actor.”
“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,” she added. “Misgendering trans folks is violence and if you come for one of us, you come for all of us. The cis world doesn’t get to decide which of us is valuable. I am so proud of the fans for always holding us to a high standard, for calling out transphobia and violence.”
Grahn also commented on the actor’s controversy and revealed that he was no longer part of the “General Hospital” cast.
“The fellow actor, #IngoRademacher, is mercifully no longer a part of the #gh cast,” she wrote. “Transphobia & misgendering are disgusting & should be unacceptable in any industry, including soaps/acting. I stand with my costar, @cassandrajames_, & the trans community.”
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