Actor Steve Burton fired from "General Hospital" after 29 years for refusing to get COVID vaccine
CBSN
Award-winning soap opera star Steve Burton has been fired from ABC's "General Hospital" after he refused to get the COVID vaccine, he confirmed in an Instagram video on Tuesday. Burton, who has been on the show intermittently since 1992, portrayed the character of Jason Morgan.
"I wanted you to hear it from me personally. Unfortunately, 'General Hospital' has let me go because of the vaccine mandate," he said in a video posted on his Instagram. "I did apply for my medical and religious exemptions and both of those were denied, which hurts but this is also about personal freedom to me. I don't think anybody should lose their livelihood over this."
"General Hospital" cast members were required to be vaccinated against COVID-19 by November 1, and was the first daytime serial to mandate vaccines, said actress Nancy Lee Grahn, who portrays Alexis Davis on the soap opera.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.
The knock at the door came at nighttime on Mother's Day 2008 in Oregon, where Jessica Ellis' parents lived. It was around 9:20 p.m. and his wife, Linda, was already in bed; her father Steve Ellis told CBS News, that he thought someone let their animals out — but two soldiers in Class A uniforms were standing at the door.