Like so many fans before him, Antonio Sabato Jr. has opinions about the General Hospital episode that aired on Friday, February 2. The one in which Adam J. Harrington made his debut as John “Jagger” Cates, a role previously played by Sabato Jr.

Antonio Sabato Jr. Has His Say

“I’m being bombarded with a lot of questions about this General Hospital thing. You need to know the truth from me, and you need to know the only truth about what’s going on,” began an Instagram post that Sabato Jr. published on Saturday.

“At the beginning of my career, I started on a character that I truly, truly adore, that I created with Wendy Riche, the executive producer, and an amazing team of writers at General Hospital back in 1992.” continued the actor. “I was on General Hospital from 92 to 94, playing a character by the name of John “Jagger” Cates. I’ve been asked by the fans, by millions all over the world, not just in America and in North America, but all over the world, about coming back to General Hospital for 30 years. Now, like I said, I’m doing very well. I’m not begging to go back on the show. This is not about that. I have many careers. I’m still acting very well. I have a movie coming out. I have a lot of things coming out that I’m very proud of.”

Sabato Jr. then made clear that, “I’ve never been asked to come back on General Hospital for 30 years. The producers at General Hospital, ABC, and Disney, they know where to find me. They know where I am. The fans always ask me every single day, ‘Are you going back to General Hospital?’”

As for Harrington’s assumption of the part: “So now, they started a new character by the name of John. They don’t even call him ‘Jagger’. They call him ‘John’ because they know that the character’s only been played by me ’cause it’s part of who I am. It’s my life. It’s a character that is really a big part of my soul, that I dedicated my life, and that’s why it turned out to be great. I gave everything I have to that character and I would still do.”

Sabato Jr. also addressed the rumblings that it was his political stances that cost him the chance to return to the ABC sudser. (As you may recall, he was a fervent supporter of the Republican Party and Donald Trump).

“So, the truth and the fact of the matter is, people say, well, ‘you ruined your career because you voted for this, or political, or this and that.’ I shouldn’t be hired on my political views. I should be hired on my merit, on my acting abilities.”

The update/missive wrapped with Sabato Jr. declaring, “So, this is on them hiring a new person, which is fine. They could do whatever they want. But for all the fans around the world to speculate, or to say, ‘I ruined my career and all this stuff,’ no, that’s not it. So now you know the truth. I’m gonna leave this out there for you to see.”