Silencing Hollywood: Ingo Rademacher Sues ABC | Saturday Extra

00:03
Speaker 1
Conservative actors have complained for years that those who express anything other than progressive political views can end up on blacklists. They say this has long led many in the industry to quietly self censor. But now some performers are speaking out and looking to the courts to enforce more balance in the entertainment industry.

00:21
Speaker 2
In this episode of Morningwire, Dailywire culture reporter Megan Basham talks with veteran soap opera actor Ingo Rotemacher about the state of viewpoint diversity in Hollywood and why he's suing ABC for discrimination. I'm Daily Wire editor in chief John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Saturday, January 14, and this is an extra edition of Morningwire. In this episode, Daily Wire culture reporter Megan Basham speaks with actor Ingo Rotemacher, best known for his performances on the soap opera General Hospital and the reality competition Dancing with the Stars.

00:58
Speaker 3
Thank you so much for talking with know. I remember when you were fired over the vax mandate, and I was not aware of some of the other elements of this story. So obviously, we watched your Instagram video, and you mentioned that it wasn't just the vaccine mandate, but it was in the discovery process. You found out that they were trying to fire you before that because of your political and social views. So one, what did you find? And then what were those views that they were objecting to?

01:29
Speaker 4
So, yes, to answer your question, I was fired for not complying with the vaccine mandate. But I had kind of suspicions about maybe that it was political, because in 2020, I started speaking out, started speaking my political views on my social media accounts, my twitter and my Instagram, because I thought that was my right. Little did I know it is my right. And everyone's like, oh, you're crazy to speak out against this. And I'm like, well, no, this is freedom of speech. This is very important. If other people on the show get to speak, then so do I. And if they have different views, that's totally fine with me. So we had to fight very hard in order to expose the political animus towards me at work. And the ABC lawyers insisted that such evidence didn't exist.

02:16
Speaker 4
And then at the last minute, all of a sudden, they found a bunch of emails and text messages that showed the political animals towards me, and that included emails and text messages between cast and crew. One of them was a producer calling me an ignorant, know, just name calling for no reason. And I think that kind of just shows the depth that Hollywood goes to in order to cover up the political discrimination. And I really know Gina Carano is a perfect example. When she started speaking out against the know, they started looking for just any post of hers that they could use to fire her. And they didn't even hide it. I mean, they came out, I think it was on Twitter and they announced she's no longer working with us and that's not allowed in California.

02:59
Speaker 4
There are laws against firing people for their political views.

03:02
Speaker 3
Well, so can you drill down a little bit on what sort of political views they were objecting to? Because some people can hear that and they could think, well, maybe he said something really offensive. So what exactly was it, the kind of thing that they were objecting to?

03:15
Speaker 4
None of the things I said were offensive and none of the things I said were actually misinformation as they like to say about the vaccine. So just one of the posts, to give you an example was I posted a reposted a story of antivaccine passport rally. Now this is not even anti vaccine. I've never said anything to anybody about not taking the vaccine. This was literally just, we shouldn't have vaccine passports. And they were really upset about that. They were talking about recasting me and things like that. We have the emails from them actively talking about figuring out a way to let me go before, well, before the vaccine mandate even came along. So when that came along, they were just like, okay, well, we'll just use this. He's not going to get vaccinated and we'll just deny the religious exemption.

04:04
Speaker 4
So I didn't know about that before. I didn't think that it was actually possible for them to mistreat me in such a way because maybe I'm naive in that way, but I really believe in a freedom of speech and I advocate for anybody else that's on the show, like Nancy Lee Grant, for instance, who's very political about her views. I advocate for her freedom of speech and that's one of the main things, I think, that we're fighting for. Besides the vaccine mandate being unconstitutional and the religious exemption being denied. Freedom of speech is at the heart of a well functioning country. We have to have debate and nobody wants to debate anymore. They just want to call you names, try to smear you as much as possible, which is what happened with me, and then fire you as quickly as possible.

04:55
Speaker 4
Then getting back to your question, none of the things I said were wrong. I did say in 2021 that this vaccine was never designed to stop the spread of the virus. And that turns out to be 100% correct because it was never even tested against transmission. So nobody ever walks that back and goes, oh, by the way, Inga Ratamaka was right. All the headlines, if you google it, say Ingoratamaka was spreading misinformation about the know. So it was just pretty much every post of mine that they didn't like. And, look, I'm not a Republican or a Democrat. I criticized the media narrative, and that alone was enough to get me blacklisted in Hollywood and fired from GH.

05:35
Speaker 3
And that was going to be part of my question. And you did bring up Nancy Lee. Granted, she essentially cheered your firing. I happened to see that post where she was celebrating the fact that you had been fired. It seemed like what she objected to was a post where you express a view that sometimes transgender women are currently being celebrated in a way that devalues female achievement. It's essentially, you might say, taking honors that once belonged to biological women and extending them out to transgender women. So, my question on that point was going to be, if you pull that popular consensus is with you on that. So, I mean, what was that like for you to see your costars celebrating your firing? What's the working environment like when that's the reaction?

06:24
Speaker 4
She jumped on the virtue signaling train, I think, in a way, and wanted to announce to everybody that I was mercifully no longer on the show. I think she put, I mean, look, I am for equal rights for everybody, but I'm not for special rights. And I believe that the certain members of the trans community, when they are biologically males and they want to compete against the women in sports, you're asking for special rights. And in our society, nobody gets special rights. It's equal rights for everybody. So me pointing out the fact that biological males shouldn't be put up for woman of the year, shouldn't be competing against females, I think that is exactly what you said. I think most of America is standing behind me on that. And I have a daughter.

07:09
Speaker 4
I have two boys and a daughter, and she's only two and a half. And I hope that we are done with all of this insanity. I call. Yeah. Just getting back to know, announcing that I was no longer on the show, I think was really disappointing. But I don't mind working with somebody like that at work. It doesn't bother me because, again, it comes down to freedom of speech. Right. And I'm a huge supporter of that. If you want to talk about your political views and social views on your social media account, which is what she does, then I get to enjoy the same. Right now, she can disagree with me, and we can argue about it. Not at work, obviously, but also, I don't have a problem working with people that I don't agree with. It doesn't bother me.

07:58
Speaker 4
I don't talk about my politics at work, but my social media is my social media account. And I think I should have the right to say whatever I want since somebody else like her is enjoying her freedom to say whatever she wants. So again, that's what it comes down to. So I don't have any problems with somebody like that at all because I actually believe the saying, you're not defending free speech unless it's hard for you to do.

08:22
Speaker 3
Yeah, absolutely. And one of the things that struck me was another of your, you know, in the heat of this, said that misgendering trans folks is violence. And so one, I wonder how you respond to that. Do you think that your post retweeting something that Ali Beth Stuckey had posted, is that violent?

08:41
Speaker 4
No, it's absolutely not violent. First of all, that post was 100% correct. Okay. I can walk that back. I could have crossed it out and put transgender woman instead of dude. Right? That's what they were upset about because I misgendered somebody. This is purely a smear campaign against somebody that speaks out against the media narrative that they don't like. And it's silly to say that, oh, well, if you transition before the age of twelve and you take a bunch of hormones, you are a woman. No, it's not even a debate that we should be having. We can't just say that trans women are women, period. We have to put trans in front of it. Otherwise that leaves it open to all of those things being put up for woman of the year and competing against the women. And I just don't agree with it.

09:27
Speaker 4
And I think everybody's behind me. And that's not transphobic. That is just pointing out the truth. And I'm willing to have a debate with anybody about that because at the end of that debate, I think everyone's going to agree. Again, it comes down to the reason we separate women and men's sports is because the women can't compete against men in sports. That's the only reason we do it.

09:50
Speaker 3
So let me ask you then, what is your sense in Hollywood of just how many performers, how many other industry professionals are suppressing their views out of fear of the kind of job loss and blacklist that you describe?

10:04
Speaker 4
I'm going to be guessing it's probably somewhere close to half the people at work with me that their views do not align with the current media narrative or the current narrative. In Hollywood, they are more on my side of this than anything. You know, hey, let me just throw this out there, too, to Nancy. Nancy should be my biggest advocate in this because it's wonderful that she gets to speak and say what can be interpreted as horrible things, calling, I think it was Ivanka Trump, a Nazi for having a white dog. And things like, know, there's so many posts that I'm like, okay, but again, I advocate for her to speak whatever she know. And that should be completely separate also from the character that we play.

10:57
Speaker 4
And getting back to your question about people at work, people that do agree with my views are afraid to speak up anyone that you talk to, and you get private messages, you get phone calls from friends, and they're like, man, you have a lot of courage, but I just can't do it. I just can't fight the fight.

11:17
Speaker 3
It's a little like that meme. Have you ever seen that meme where the executioner is about to kill the guy, but he's whispering to him? I agree with you. I mean, is that what you experienced?

11:27
Speaker 4
Yeah, I mean, that's exactly right. They're just not going to say anything. And to me, I walked away from an incredible job. And let me just say to everybody, suing is not fun. It has completely thrown our lives upside down. We had to move from an amazing community. My kids moved from an amazing swim team with Olympic coaches, and they had a great life there, and I had to tear them away from that life. And they destroy lives when they don't stand for equal rights for everybody and freedom of speech. And, yes, everybody is afraid to speak up in Hollywood. And when you do, then they find a way very quickly to get rid of you.

12:13
Speaker 3
Maybe a last question then, ingo, do you think that the protections for viewpoint discrimination, do they need to be strengthened in law?

12:21
Speaker 4
Well, we do have laws in California that protect political speech. You are not allowed to be fired for your political views or posts in California. I think there are other states that maybe allow that, which I was shocked to hear. And I think, yes, in that sense, it needs to be strengthened. And that is why it's also so very important for us to win this case is to set a precedent that this kind of behavior from a big corporation like ABC, Disney is not okay. What they did to me was not okay. It hurt me. And again, it's just not something that we should ever be exposed to again. And that's why it's so important to win this fight and why everybody doesn't matter if you left or right or in the middle, you should behind me right now.

13:07
Speaker 4
That's all the things we're fighting for everyone to speak and everybody to not be afraid to speak your social views and political views without getting fired. That's the goal. And that's where we have to get in this country.

13:18
Speaker 3
Well, we appreciate your time so much, and best of luck to you, Megan.

13:24
Speaker 4
I appreciate your time. Thank you.

13:26
Speaker 2
That was daily wire culture reporter Megan Basham talking with actor Ingo Rademacher. And this has been an extra edition of Morning Wire.