Ingo Rademacher made his final appearance on “General Hospital” as Jasper “Jax” Jacks, the character he portrayed for 25 years on the ABC daytime drama.
Weeks after ABC confirmed the actor would be exiting the series, his character Jax said goodbye on Monday’s episode by telling ex-wife Carly (Laura Wright) he’s returning to Australia to take care of business.
“I’m leaving town,” Jax said. When Carly asked if he’d be returning in time for the holidays. Jax responded with a bit of irony: “I’m kind of on the outs with everyone in Port Charles right now.”
In a case of art imitating life, Rademacher left the show under controversial circumstances after publicly voicing his opposition to the production’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate.
Longtime cast member Nancy Lee Grahn had previously shared on Twitter that at least one person in the cast refused to get vaccinated.
Rademacher also found himself in hot water after sharing a transphobic post about U.S. Assistant Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine on Instagram.
After Grahn and transgender co-star Cassandra James condemned the post, Rademacher responded with an apology video that contained more transphobic remarks. In the video, he discussed “the hypocrisy of the left wing media” and said “it’s not OK to call a transgender an empowered woman because where does that leave women?”
He then apologized directly to James, saying “I think you’re an absolute talent and you’re very beautiful as well. I don’t think a transphobic man would say that.”
The bungled apology was not enough to save his spot on “General Hospital.” Grahn tweeted that Rademacher “is mercifully no longer a part of the #gh cast,” which ABC later confirmed.
Monday’s episode was the first mention of the departure of Rademacher’s character.
