“General Hospital” star Ingo Rademacher caused quite a controversy in November when he posted an transphobic meme disparaging transgender Assistant Secretary of Health Rachel Levine while calling her a “dude” (via People).
This prompted social media outrage from the soap’s cast, including transgender actress Cassandra James who plays transgender hospital chief of staff Terry Randolph, who only referred to Rademacher as a “fellow actor.”
It also prompted one of the soap’s veteran stars, Nancy Lee Grahn, to tweet in support of James, while also revealing Rademacher was no longer with the show.
“The fellow actor, #IngoRademacher, is mercifully no longer a part of the [‘General Hospital’] cast,” Grahn wrote. “Transphobia [and] misgendering are disgusting [and] should be unacceptable in any industry, including soaps/acting. I stand with my costar [Cassandra James and] the trans community.”
While Rademacher was let go from the show for refusing to comply with ABC/Disney’s vaccine mandate (via TV Line), as ABC airs “General Hospital,” his transphobic meme was not the actor’s first controversial social media posts -— and not the first time he enraged Grahn so much she felt the need to block him.
Nancy Lee Grahn grew tired of Ingo Rademacher’s controversial COVID opinions
There was a time when Nancy Lee Grahn and Ingo Rademacher played husband and wife on “General Hospital” as Alexis Davis and Jasper ‘Jax’ Jacks, per ABC.
While the on-screen marriage didn’t last long, the off-screen working relationship did not truly blow up until 2020 when the very conservative Rademacher.
According to Cheat Sheet, Rademacher shared an offensive post on Instagram in April of 2020, which seems to have since vanished.
In the post, he wrote, “No one thinks Chinese Americans are to blame for the Chinese coronavirus.
If you don’t have the intellectual capacity to understand we are referring to a country and not an ethnicity, I can’t help you. You’re an idiot.”
Cheat Sheet also reported that fans began calling out Rademacher on Twitter with one fan tagging Grahn with screenshots of some of his Instagram posts.
“Aye, @NancyLeeGrahn, gather your colleague and save him from his foolishness, lest he continue to use your name as justification for his stupidity.” Apparently, Grahn had already seen what he wrote and had enough.
Nancy Lee Grahn chose to block Ingo Rademacher
When fans began tagging and asking Nancy Lee Grahn to say something to “General Hospital” co-star Ingo Rademacher about his COVID-19 views, Grahn responded by saying she didn’t even want to get involved.
“I have seen these posts and will not engage. It is not my job to save anyone, nor do I feel any responsibility for my cast-mates. No one can use my name for anything unless I give it credence. I have not [and] do not. I can only lead by example. I intend to do my very best at that.”
At some point after that, Grahn quietly blocked Rademacher, but he didn’t want to keep that fact quiet and revealed what she did.
In a tweet that also seems to have vanished, Rademacher wrote, “A true liberal right there. I’m for free speech Nancy and would certainly never block any for their opinion” (via Cheat Sheet).
Since then, Grahn and Rademacher have shared scenes together as Alexis and Jax, with Jax turning to Alexis to listen to his problems before Rademacher was let go from the soap.
To their credit, no animosity between the actors could be seen on screen.
