LOS ANGELES (CNS) - Apple LLC is seeking dismissal on free-speech grounds of a lawsuit brought by former "Deadwood" actor Brent Sexton, who alleges the company cost him nearly $600,000 by rescinding an offer to have him star in a new series because he declined to take the coronavirus vaccine due to medical reasons.
Sexton's Los Angeles Superior Court disability discrimination suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. On Friday, Apple attorneys filed a motion under the state's anti-SLAPP -- Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation -- law, which is intended to prevent people from using courts, and potential threats of a lawsuit, to intimidate those who are exercising their First Amendment rights.
"If allowed to proceed, Sexton's suit threatens to create a judicially recognized limit on motion picture and television producers' First Amendment right to free speech by forcing them to sacrifice artistic expression in order to avoid meritless employment and privacy lawsuits such as the instant action," the Apple lawyers argue in court papers filed with Judge Michael P. Linfield, who is scheduled to hear the anti-SLAPP motion on Sept. 26.
According to Sexton's suit filed May 22, Apple corporate and retail store employees were not required to be vaccinated against the coronavirus if they underwent required testing, but Apple Studios "trampled the rights" of those who worked for the Los Angeles-based subsidiary that produces content for Apple's new streaming service, Apple TV+.
Anyone who worked on an Apple TV+ production was required to get the shot and submit proof, the suit states.
Sexton believes the subsidiary "bowed to pressure from the entertainment industry, one of the most aggressive proponents of universal COVID vaccination," according to the suit.
In February 2022, Sexton submitted a self-tape audition to play President Andrew Johnson on "Manhunt," a miniseries that Apple Studios is producing, which focuses on the U.S. government's search for President Lincoln's assassin, John Wilkes Booth.
Sexton, now 56, was granted the role a week later and Apple offered him a deal worth nearly $600,000 and incentives with a seven-episode minimum, the suit states. But after accepting the deal, Sexton was told he would have to comply with the vaccination policy despite its potential negative impact on his longtime medical problem of a platelet deficiency, the suit states. He requested an accommodation for regular coronavirus testing and included a note from his doctor in support, the suit adds.
Apple allegedly did not question the legitimacy of Sexton's request, but denied his accommodation request within 48 hours and withdrew the job offer.
Georgia, where "Manhunt" was to be filmed, had outlawed mandatory coronavirus vaccination policies in public employment and encouraged private employers to provide testing and other substitutes to unvaccinated people, but Apple Studios ignored that and didn't support the company's hardship claim, the suit states.
Sexton and his union were willing to pay for coronavirus testing and he would have indemnified Apple for any illness he caught on the set, the suit states.
But according to the Apple attorneys' court papers, the "Manhunt" producers and Apple determined that a mandatory vaccine policy was necessary on their production given the unique emergency created by the COVID-19 pandemic. They took into consideration the high COVID-19 infection rates at the time, high risk individuals among cast and crew and the less restrictive coronavirus measures then in place in Georgia, where the series was being filmed, according to the Apple attorneys' court papers.
Other alternative safety measures were not possible without impacting Apple's ability to tell its story safely, according to the Apple lawyers, who note that it would undermine the entire production and premise if someone portraying President Johnson wore a face mask and never came within six feet of other actors, the Apple attorneys further maintain in their court papers.
In addition, the production of "Manhunt" is speech in connection with a matter of public interest and the public has demonstrated a curiosity in its creation and distribution given the multiple media articles about the series and its cast, the Apple lawyers maintain in their court papers.