Huge rumours have been buzzing around the daytime TV forums that actor Joseph Mascolo who has been a longtime cast member for the soap opera “Days Of Our Lives” has been fired from the show…

This news has been floating around, not sure if it’s coming from reliable sources or not:

“Longtime soap star Joseph Mascolo is furious after Days` bosses axed him from the show out of the blue-and did it with a cold phone call. “A show exec called and simply told him his contract isnt being renewed,”says an insider. ‘He’s furious and in a state of shock. He flew into a rage over the phone.’ The 73 year old actor who plays baddie Stefano Dimera first joined the NBC drama in 1982 and worked there nearly 20 years until 2001, when he joined the Bold and the Beautiful for five years. He returned to Days last June reprising his popular role. The storyline put his character in a coma for the past month. “Joe believed DAYS would be his swan song” says the insider. ‘He’s been at the center of a strong story line since he came back. What’s worse is he’s not even being brought out of the coma for a major finale. He’s worked his last day on the show.’

From the Days board:

http://boards.nbc.com/nbc/index.php?showtopic=792125&st=0

What a shame. A longtime “Days” vet canned from the show. As the paragraph explained above Joseph played the evil Stefano Dimera known as the father and mob boss of the Dimera family. I guess putting Stefano in a coma is a way to explain his firing.

What happened was ever since John Black was found alive from the Dimera mansion over an experiment to take out John’s memory, this is what drove John Black’s wife Marlena to take out Stefano’s memory and put him in a coma in return. A revenge type of thing. The left over Dimera family EJ Wells and Tony Dimera has since turned “good guys” since Stefano is no longer around.

Joseph was one of the best actors in the show and it will not be the same without him.

Kev