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5 March 2024
(NEXSTAR) — More than two years after being removed from the ABC soap opera “General Hospital” following a dispute over the COVID-19 vaccine, actor Steve Burton has returned to the show.
Burton appeared on Monday’s episode of “General Hospital,” roughly one month after the actor teased his return in an Instagram video apparently filmed on the show’s set.
“Hey hey, back at home,” Burton told fans at the time.
Burton, who joined the show in 1992 as Jason Morgan, had first revealed to fans in November 2021 that the producers “let [him] go because of the vaccine mandate.” He explained at the time that he had applied for medical and religious exemptions, but was denied.
ABC confirmed the decision to The Hollywood Reporter in 2021, explaining that the network’s policy required cast and crew working in areas where actors weren’t masked to be vaccinated.
The verified Instagram page for “General Hospital” shared a video of Burton, 53, on Tuesday.
“It just feels really good to be back on set with my people,” Burton says during the clip, which also shows him walking on set and explaining how he’s approaching his character upon his return.
Steve Burton, winner of the award for supporting actor in a drama series for “The Young and the Restless,” poses in the press room at the 44th annual Daytime Emmy Awards at the Pasadena Civic Center on Sunday, April 30, 2017, in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
After leaving “General Hospital,” Burton reprised his “Days of Our Lives” role as Navy SEAL Harris Michaels on the show’s spin-off miniseries “Beyond Salem” in 2022, and also on “Days” last year, USA Today reports. Burton announced last month that he would be leaving the series, but a spokesperson told USA Today that his character will remain on the show for the coming months.
Shortly before Burton left “General Hospital,” the show parted ways with Ingo Rademacher, who had played Jasper “Jax” Jacks on the soap opera since 1996, for refusing to comply with the show’s vaccine mandate. Rademacher later sued ABC over the mandate, but a Los Angeles judge sided with ABC in the case in June 2023.
In November 2022, most Disney shows dropped their vaccine mandates, Deadline reported. (The Walt Disney Company owns ABC.)