Arianne Zucker Out at Days of our Lives, Shares Last Airdate

Arianne Zucker going after Corday Productions, Ken Corday and Albert Alarr

In the Friday, January 19th episode of Days of our Lives, Nicole Walker DiMera (Arianne Zucker) left Salem for Italy with her daughter, Holly (Ashley Puzemis) to care for her at a special facility while she’s in a coma.

Behind the scenes, Zucker was building a case, suing Corday Productions, its executive producer Ken Corday, and Albert Alarr for sexually harassing her and other female employees on the show. This, according to TMZ.

nicole at holly's side days of our lives soapspoilers — Peacock

Zucker says she was “subjected to nonconsensual sexual touching and sexually harassing comments during Alarr’s employment.” She claimed that Alarr would “frequently pull her close to his chest and make sexual moans while doing so.”

Other claims were that Alarr would “make sexually suggestive remarks while filming, like allegedly telling her costars filming sex scenes with her that he would ‘love to switch positions’ with them, and Arianne says he made it clear he enjoyed aggressive sex scenes.”Albert Alarr was fired, following a misconduct investigation and Days of our Lives cast petition signed by more than 25 cast members.Corday’s response to the firing was to hire co-executive producer Janet Drucker and sent a note to the cast and crew: “Effective immediately, Janet Drucker will be elevated to co-executive producer of Days of Our Lives, replacing Albert Alarr, who will be exiting his role,” Corday wrote. “Moving forward, we will be implementing additional HR protocols, including an increased HR presence as well as channels for reporting any concerns. It is imperative that we have a safe and inclusive workplace environment.”

Zucker’s contract was running out in October and she tried to negotiate with Corday who she claims gave her a “take it or leave it” offer. That he would not negotiate “in good faith.”

Since her contract expired in January, she sees this as being fired. Days of our Lives tapes about 6 months in advance. We knew we’d see Nicole through the summer but on Aprril 26, Zucker took to her YouTube Channel to discuss her final airdate which she believes to be July 29.

Zucker said, “I was really appreciative of the amount of support that I have had since leaving Days of our Lives. I’ll just be kind about it right now and just so you all know, my last airdate is…I think it’s July 29th and we’ll see how things go after that. But I had a tremendous amount of support. I don’t think I have read or seen anything about anyone not supporting me through this whole thing.”

According to TMZ, she is suing for harassment, discrimination, retaliation, negligent hiring and supervision, and wrongful termination among other claims … she’s seeking unspecified damages.

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After this statement, Days took a two week hiatus. Alarr stated, “It is hard to overstate how heartbreaking I find this situation.

These allegations were already examined in a detailed and entirely independent investigation that lasted for two months. Dozens of individuals cooperated and every claim was thoroughly looked into. At the end of that process, the decision was made that I should continue in my role as Co-Executive Producer. Now, with no new facts presented, the studios have reversed course and caved to a cynical pressure campaign to force me out of my job.

It’s important to set the record straight. Every day, I worked with hundreds of people, the overwhelming majority of whom would disagree with recent mischaracterizations of me. I have been in this industry for decades, and not a single complaint has ever been made against me until now.

Many of the claims recently referenced in the media are simply false. Others have been taken so out of context or are so twisted that they are unrecognizable from the truth.

To be clear, this whole situation stems from the animus of just two individuals. Those individuals, at a time of industry-wide cutbacks and economic uncertainty, have been relentlessly angling for greater pay and increased influence on the show, and, it appears, believed that their best strategy to get it was to play on vile stereotypes in order to bring down a Black man in a position of power.

I will always be proud of being the only Black director/producer in daytime soap operas. And, while I am devastated by the manner of my departure, I will always treasure my years at Days of Our Lives and wish the wildly talented cast and crew the very best for the future.”

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