Actor Richard Burgi says he was let go from CBS’ soap opera The Young and the Restless after he “inadvertently” violated the show’s COVID policy.
Burgi announced on Jan. 9 that he would be leaving the show, a little less than a year after he joined long-running daytime drama. The Young and the Restless quickly recast the role of media mogul Ashland Locke with Guiding Light veteran Robert Newman, who makes his debut on the show later this week.
In an Instagram story Tuesday, Burgi said he was fired after he “naively and inadvertently violated the show’s COVID policies.” Sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that Burgi’s breach of virus protocols led to his firing.
Sony Pictures TV, which produces The Young and the Restless with Bell Dramatic Serial Company, declined comment.
Burgi, a veteran soap actor and former Desperate Housewives cast member, said he tested positive for COVID-19 over the holidays and “took the necessary five days” of quarantine recommended by the CDC. He said he received negative tests at the show’s studios on two consecutive days and then showed up to work.
“But that was not within the show’s guidelines, which was a 10-day protocol,” he said. “I felt terrible about it and still do. It bothers me mightily, but it is what it is. I respect whatever the show’s decision is; they’re doing the best they can, as we all are.”
Burgi is one of a few soap actors who have lost their jobs over falling out of line with their employers’ pandemic protocols. ABC’s General Hospital dropped Ingo Rademacher and Steve Burton from the cast after they did not comply with the production’s vaccine mandate; Rademacher subsequently sued ABC over being denied a religious exemption to the mandate.
Source: Hollywood
