A Disney Suit for the Trump Era

Rockmond Dunbar
Should the case escalate, it’s easy to imagine Trump’s Department of Justice jumping in to provide support for Dunbar, maybe even taking time to argue before the Supreme Court. Photo: FOX Image Collection/Getty Images
Eriq Gardner
February 12, 2025

If you want a sense of how Trump 2.0 might collide with Hollywood, head to the federal courthouse in downtown L.A., where lawyers for The Walt Disney Co. and actor Rockmond Dunbar are presently debating whether to go straight to trial. Disney, you’ll recall, fired Dunbar from the TV series 911 in September 2021 after he refused to get a Covid vaccine. The actor told Disney he belonged to the Congregation of Universal Wisdom, and that he considered it sacrilegious to ingest unnatural substances. Dunbar sued, and last March, a federal judge dismissed all of his claims except one: that Disney violated Title VII of the Civil Rights Act by failing to provide a religious accommodation. This lone surviving claim may now face a jury.