Stephen Colbert has taken an Aussie soap star to task for his attempts to sue an American TV network over vaccine mandates.
Ingo Rademacher – who let’s be honest, you probably haven’t heard of – is best known for his role on a soap called General Hospital. He’s been starring as the character Jasper ‘Jax’ Jacks in the show for 25 years, which is honestly how long it would take me to accept that character name.
The show airs on ABC (an American network owned by Disney, not our tax-funded ABC) which fired Rademacher in November after he refused to get vaxxed. They also denied him a religious exemption from the COVID jab.
I mean, you’d think that starring in a medical program would clue you in just a tiny bit to understanding why vaccines are a good thing. Alas, not the case for Ingo.
Now, he’s suing the ABC, and justified his stance in a truly wild email sent to Disney HR, which was published by Variety.
He wrote: “I am entitled to a religious exemption against mandatory vaccination for COVID-19 on the basis of my deeply and sincerely held moral belief that my body is endowed by my creator with natural processes to protect me and that its natural integrity cannot ethically be violated by the administration of artificially created copies of genetic material, foreign to nature and experimental.”
Phew. A lot to unpack there, I won’t lie: for one, I’m very curious about Ingo’s ‘natural integrity’, but I digress.
Of course it was prime content for Stephen Colbert absolutely read him to filth on The Late Show.
Starting out strong, he described Rademacher as a “General Hospital actor and above-ground pool salesman who hits on your wife”.
“This month, this random collection of consonants was fired by ABC because he refused to get vaccinated.
“Sorry buddy, but you have to follow the medical advice. You’re on General Hospital, not General Stuff I Read On Facebook.”
Sick burn there, Stevo.
He then went in on Rademacher’s argument that the vaccine mandate violated his religious freedom.
“A lot of people are saying that Ingo Rademacher is being ridiculous, unless…that’s not Ingo Rademacher! It’s Ingo Rademacher’s twin brother Vigo Rademacher who just woke up from a coma.
“Or maybe, in one final twist, none of that is true and Ingo Rademacher is just a stupid dingus!”
#StephenColbert just DESTROYED @IngoRademacher1 on The Late Show over his suing #GH for firing him per the #COVID19 #mandate #IngoRademacher pic.twitter.com/XLsTs1Wrl8
— Gregory Something Italian (@gregory_scepi) December 15, 2021
I won’t lie, it’s a pretty spot on impression of most daytime TV shows.
And somehow, it’s sad but reassuring to know the Australian anti-vaxxers aren’t just being messy and embarrassing at home, but also overseas now too!
