A song from Kin Shriner‘s General Hospital past came back to haunt him in an unusual way.
“Yes, I’m on the phone with SAG, and this is what they’re playing,” Shriner said in a Monday, July 21, Instagram video. In the clip, the tune that played as the call was on hold was none other than the same song used during Luke (Anthony Geary) and Laura’s (Genie Francis) controversial General Hospital rape scene: “Rise” by Herb Alpert.
“For those who get the joke!!!” Shriner captioned the post, referring to the infamous TV moment.
Despite being one of the most popular couples in soap opera history, Luke and Laura’s relationship got off to a rough start when the former raped Laura at a disco during a 1979 episode of the ABC series.
At the time of the incident, Laura was married to Shriner’s character, Scotty Baldwin. Luke’s eventual romantic feelings for Laura created a love triangle among the three, and Laura eventually divorced Scotty and married Luke in 1981.
General Hospital fans were quick to recognize the song in the comments of Shriner’s post. “Trigger song I can see the scene as we speak!😮,” one user wrote, while another added, “I love that song Kin but i always hated that they used it for the gh scene 😞.”
“I’ll always think of that horrible scene in the campus disco when I hear this song,” a different person commented, while another shared, “I couldn’t listen to that song for years later without hearing Laura yelling, ‘No, Luke!’” 🤢🤮.”
Several of Shriner’s Instagram followers also shared their hopes of seeing Scotty return to the long-running show in the future, as he has not appeared on General Hospital since August 2024.
“Haven’t heard RISE in yrs.. Miss you,Kin..time to bring Scott home❤️,” one person commented. A second user wrote, “I hope you come back to GH! Your fans miss you!!! Scotty was a main piece of GH history past, present and future!”
Francis previously spoke out against her character’s rape scene during a ABC Television Critics Association press conference panel in 2023, stating that she no longer felt like she had to “defend” the storyline.
“You know, as a young kid, at 17, I was told to play rape, and I played it,” she said at the time, per Entertainment Weekly. “I didn’t even know what it was. But, at 17, you follow the rules, and you do as you are told, and you aim to please.”
She continued, “I think that the story was inappropriate, I don’t condone it, and it’s been a burden that I’ve had to carry to try to justify that story, and so I’m not doing that anymore. When a woman says ‘No,’ she should be listened to, and if you replay that scene, you don’t have Laura just saying ‘No,’ you have her screaming ‘No.’”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
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