Emilio Estevez denies quitting The Mighty Ducks series over vaccine mandate: ‘I am not anti-vaxx. Full stop’

‘Simply put, I am anti-bully,’ actor said

Emilio Estevez has denied reports that he quit The Mighty Ducks TV series after refusing to get vaccinated against Covid-19.

Last week, it was reported that The Breakfast Club star would not be returning to The Mighty Ducks: Game Changers, the first season of which debuted on Disney Plus in March.

Reports suggested that Estevez was refusing to get vaccinated and left the show over a mandatory vaccine requirement on set.

However on Monday (9 November), he released a statement to Deadline denying these “falsehoods”, explaining: “I am not anti-vaxx. Full stop.

“I take this pandemic very seriously, and I am often teased about my continued following of the safety protocols and my abundance of caution,” Estevez said.

“In the final analysis, this was nothing more than a good old fashioned contract dispute and not, as some would believe, an anti-vaccine position.”

The 59-year-old said that he suffered last year from “long haul syndrome” (known as “long Covid” in the UK) after contracting the virus in March 2020. Estevez claimed that he was encouraged to return to set last summer despite being “uncertain” of his safety and was warned of “possible consequences and legal jeopardy” if he didn’t.

“In retrospect, I wrongly chose to protect the show over being transparent about having contracted Covid-19. I may have provided another public example [of] how we are all vulnerable to this deadly disease,” he said, adding that showrunners and producers “all know the truth”.

“Simply put, I am anti-bully,” said Estevez, who starred in the original The Mighty Ducks film in 1992. “My exit from the show was due to a myriad of creative differences – any other narrative is false.”

The Independent has contacted Disney for comment.