Radar is reporting on the whacking of Star maga- zine editor Joe Dolce, whose departure from the upgraded-but-still-tawdry supermarket weekly was announced to the staff via e-mail yesterday. Radar‘s view is that (a) Dolce took a bullet for his about-to-be-former boss, Bonnie Fuller, and her $2 million contract, and (b) that Dolce has been “the glue that keeps Star from ripping apart at the seams.”

An insider tells Radar that “everyone in the office knows that Joe would be breaking his ass to get out an issue while Bonnie was off doing her thing. Some describe Fuller, who recently signed a three-year contract, as having a cavalier attitude toward slumping sales at Star. The glossy’s circulation has recently dipped to a record low of about 550,000.”

Aww, what a shame. The fortunes of the Star and the people who are giving their all to keep it going are important matters. Seriously — if the Star was to disappear from the supermarket tabloid landscape, I wonder what would happen? Would there be mass weeping? Would anyone smile besides myself?