A long-time star of General Hospital has been fired after declining to comply with the production's vaccine mandate, according to Variety.
Ingo Rademacher's last episode is scheduled to air on Nov. 22
News of the actor's departure comes amid backlash after he shared a meme with a picture of U.S. Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine, who is transgender, and referred to the picture as "that dude on the left."
According to Variety, the meme had originally been posted by a conservative commentator.
The actor said he supported the author's intent to, in his words, "highlight the hypocrisy of the left-wing media."
In a video posted to Instagram Monday, Rademacher apologized and said he should have crossed out the word "dude" in the meme — and said that those were the author's words, not his. The actor also apologized to Cassandra James, a “General Hospital” co-star who is transgender. He called her an “absolute talent” and “very beautiful.”
Rademacher also shared an anti-vax message on Sunday that reads, “I will stand with you to fight for medical freedom.”
Rademacher has played the character Jasper “Jax” Jacks on General Hospital since 1996.