Charlie Sheen's radio rant leads CBS to cancel "Two and a Half Men"

radio-info.com ^ | 2/25/11 | radio-info.com

[raccoonradio]

Controversial TV star Charlie Sheen has been on the radio a lot lately, but his last outburst on a radio talk show went too far for CBS and Warner Brothers, which made the extraordinary move to halt production of its top-rated show for the rest of the season. On the Alex Jones show, Sheen ripped into "Two and a Half Men" show creator Chuck Lorre, calling him at one point a "turd" and an "un-evolved mind." He also had strong words for Alcoholics Anonymous, party girls, and even Thomas Jefferson.

Sheen says, "Are they happy with the $5 billion they already made off me or do they think they can turn it into $10 [billion] in a couple more seasons?" Charlie continued. "I'm just saying, you know [the show] is a runaway freakin' juggernaut. Do what you've gotta do -- I'll go make movies with superstars and not work with idiots." In halting production of "Two and a Half Men," CBS said "Based on the totality of Charlie Sheen's statements, conduct and condition, CBS and Warner Bros. Television have decided to discontinue production of Two and a Half Men for the remainder of the season."

Ironically, one of Sheen's comments also dared CBS & Warner brothers to pull the plug on the show, saying, "I was told if I went on the attack, they would cancel the show and all that, and so I'm just sort of seeing if they're telling the truth or not." Access Hollywood has the audio of Sheen's comments. Sheen attempted rehab and made news for allegedly involving himself with hookers and drugs. He also angered his co-stars and sitcom show crew when show tapings were first temporarily halted, affecting the schedules and lives of co-workers. Sheen earned an estimated $1.2 million per episode of "Men."

[antiRepublicrat]

I know that, I’m wondering if Sheen is going on an anti-Semitic Jew paranoia trip now. Levine is probably Jewish, but why else would Sheen call him Chaim except to emphasize that he’s Jewish?

[Calvin Locke]

Ah, you’re going to cast him in the latest “Dorian Gray” remake?

[buccaneer81]

This is what happened to Farrah Fawcett way back when. She thought she was indispensable, tried to stand up for more bucks and her career was never the same.

That list is long...

Pernell Roberts (Bonanza)

Valerie Harper (Valerie/The Hogan Family)

McLean Stevenson (MASH)

Shannen Doherty (Original 90210)

David Caruso (NYPD Blue)

Wayne Rogers (MASH)

Janet Hubert Whitten (the first "Aunt Viv" on Fresh Prince of Bel Air.)

And dozens more.

[Roos_Girl]

No, thank you. I’m straight.

[fwdude]

he,he!!

(Sounds like a punch line from Airplane)

[buccaneer81]

a son of a Hollywood legend.

Let's not get carried away. "Apocalypse Now" was Martin Sheen's only real "mega-movie." Most of his career was in made for TV tripe (he made a career of playing JFK.)

My favorite movie of his is "The Final Countdown" (1980.)

[Oztrich Boy]

This is what happened to Farrah Fawcett way back when. She thought she was indispensable, tried to stand up for more bucks and her career was never the same.

I think if Fawcett had demanded more money she would have got it. It was more likely she quit after one year because she wanted to show she had the acting chops for more serious roles (which she pretty much did)

Charlie's more like Suzanne Somers of Three's Company (and nothing much else), where it was about money.

Charlie? Well anyone who states their ambition is to "make movies with superstars", should probably not be relying on acting.

[Roos_Girl]

Laugh. It’s actually from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Charlie Sheen makes a quick appearance and asks Jennifer Gray, as they’re sitting in the police station together, “Drugs?”. And that was her response.

[Antoninus]

So much about what’s wrong with this country is summed up in this article.

[Siena Dreaming]

I think if Fawcett had demanded more money she would have got it.

No, she didn't get it...that's what I already said. Her showdown didn't work.

Farrah didn't get a whole lot of serious roles later...just a handful. She was more a celebrity than actress and a lot of the celebrity she got later was because of the scandals in the O'Neal family.

[jdlucas04]

Alex Jones is a pro life libertarian, not a liberal. Maybe it will get me in trouble here at FR.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Bullet, meet foot.

[buccaneer81]

Two notable actors who were successful in holding their shows hostage were Carroll O'Connor (All in the Family) and Larry Hagman (Dallas.)

Shows like that are few and far between. The only other star who probably could have pulled that off since then is Jerry Seinfeld, after the fourth or fifth season of Seinfeld.

[Finny]

Frankly, I don't give a good doodly-squat about his uber-liberal politics, and I remember that mercy and pity are WRONGLY confused with bleeding-heart liberalism; I pity Sheen and think people who deride him are akin to junior high kids deriding a "special ed" kid. Sheen is pitiful. He's a miserable wretch. Poor bastard -- he probably doesn't have a real friend in the world, out of all the people who go in and out of his house and attend his parties. Not one friend among them. I'm sure glad I'm not him. I know, I know -- he brought it on himself. So what? If anything, it makes him that much more pitiful.

I'm praying for him and praying for the porn stars, too. Listen -- "There but for the grace of God goes me." It is true of every single one of us. Don't snipe at Charlie -- pray for him. Christ died for me and for you, but He died for the likes of Charlie, too.

[raccoonradio]

Ed Morrissey, HotAir (in a bit that has been posted as a thread on FR):

>>Sheen appeared on the Alex Jones radio show yesterday, not an unusual place for a Truther to make an appearance,

http://hotair.com/archives/2011/02/25/video-cnn-misses-the-story-on-sheen-meltdown/

[NCC-1701]

“...Now he’s just a drug-addled loser....”

I bet he still thinks the 9/11 was an inside job. If it was, Charlie, prove it. Idiot.

[Lee'sGhost]

My favorite movie with him in it is The Execution of Private Slovik. He gets blown away at the end.

Sort of like why I like Mission to Mars....Tim Robbins blows up in his space suit. Great stuff.

“The story of Eddie Slovik, who was executed by the Army in 1945, the only American soldier to be executed for desertion since the Civil War.”

[PATRIOT1876]

*Are they happy with the $5 billion they already made off me

Yes, the big evil corporation! And you were paid handsomely for your play-acting, Charlie!*

Makes me wonder how much money the Corporation invested in a risky show that could’ve gone bad right away with a loose cannon for one of their stars.

How much money did Charlie invest in this show?

Complaining about making $1 million plus?!?

It'd be nice to see him working at Starbucks as a baristo in a couple years...

[wideawake]

Sheen appears to be doing two things here: emphasizing Lorre's Jewish heritage as if it was a meaningful point of controversy (which is a classic anti-Semitic move in and of itself) and implying that Lorre is deliberately concealing his ethnic background from ignorant Gentiles (also a classic anti-Semitic move). Yet a third aspect is that he has lied about Lorre's actual birth name, adjusting it to make it sound even more stereotypically Jewish. Another anti-Semtic nuance.

I was pointing out the utter hypocrisy of his anti-Semitic rhetoric - that he himself has adopted an Irish stage name that completely effaces his strongly Hispanic birth name. If it is disingenuous and sinister for Charles Levine to become Charles Lorre, how much more so is it for Carlos Estevez to become Charles Sheen?

Moreover, Lorre is not exactly a non-Jewish name in the popular mind. It was the stage name of Laszlo Loewenstein - Peter Lorre - who was famously a Jewish actor who permanently left the Austria of his birth to become a US citizen due in large part to Nazi persecution.

Levine is not concealing his heritage at all when he goes by the last name Lorre - while Estevez is manifestly concealing his.

[antiRepublicrat]

So I think you answered my question, Charlie went Mel crazy.