LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Troubled actor Charlie Sheen denied Friday being anti-Semitic in an attack on the producer of hit TV series "Two and a Half Men," which has been canceled for the season due to Sheen's latest outburst.
Sheen also insisted he is sober and plans to turn up for work next week for the top-rated TV series, in which he stars. Four shows remain to be filmed this season.
CBS and Warner Brothers announced the cancelation on Thursday after Sheen, who was briefly hospitalized last month following his latest reported booze and drugs-fueled partying mishap, denounced the show's co-creator Chuck Lorre.
In a series of statements to radio and the TMZ celebrity website in the last few days, Sheen railed against Lorre, referring to him as Chaim Levine, the Hebrew translation of the TV producer's name.
"There's something this side of deplorable that a certain Chaim Levine -- yeah, that's Chuck's real name -- mistook this rock star for his own selfish exit strategy, bro," he said, apparently referring to himself.
"Last I checked, Chaim, I spent close to the last decade effortlessly and magically converting your tin cans into pure gold. And the gratitude I get is this charlatan chose not to do his job, which is to write," he added.
After the TV series was canceled Thursday, he added: "I wish him nothing but pain in his silly travels, especially if they wind up in my octagon. Clearly, I have defeated this earthworm with my words.
"Imagine what I would have done with my fire-breathing fists."
Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti Defamation League lobby group, condemned Sheen's comments.
"By invoking television producer Chuck Lorre's Jewish name in the context of an angry tirade against him, Charlie Sheen left the impression that another reason for his dislike of Mr. Lorre is his Jewishness," he said in a statement.
"This fact has no relevance to Mr. Sheen's complaint or disagreement, and his words are at best bizarre, and at worst, borderline anti-Semitism," he added in a statement.
But speaking from the Bahamas, where he is reportedly vacationing with a new girlfriend, Sheen denied Friday being anti-Semitic.
"I was referring to Chuck by his real name, because I wanted to address the man, not the b (expletive) TV persona," he told TMZ, which said Lorre's birth name is Charles Levine.
Sheen, whose birth name is Carlos Estevez, added: "So you're telling me, anytime someone calls me Carlos Estevez, I can claim they are anti-Latino?"
Separately, ABC television cited text messages from Sheen insisting he plans to go to work next week on "Two and a Half Men," despite its cancelation announced Thursday by producers Warner Bros and CBS.
The TV series about hedonistic jingle writer Charlie Harper -- played by Sheen -- has been a hit since it was launched in 2003 and has been nominated for numerous awards, including nods for Sheen at the Emmys and Golden Globes.
The Nielsen ratings agency listed it in fifth place in its latest TV shows survey, with 14.5 million viewers for its last aired episode.
Sheen was reported as saying that he was close to signing a deal with Home Box Office for a new series called "Sheen's Corner," but an HBO spokesman denied there was a deal in place.
The star filed for divorce from his wife of two years in November, days after being taken to hospital following a reported drunken incident at a luxury New York hotel involving another porn star.
In addition to his reported substance abuse, Sheen had several run-ins with the law in the 1990s in cases related to drugs, domestic violence and prostitution.
No comments:
Post a Comment