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BREAKING: Sheen’s ‘Two and a Half Men’ Contract ‘Terminated’ by Warner Bros.

Posted on | March 7, 2011 | 20 Comments

This just in:

“After careful consideration, Warner Bros. Television has terminated Charlie Sheen’s services on Two and a Half Men effective immediately.”

UPDATE: I had just finished blogging at The American Spectator about the departure of one of Sheen’s “goddesses” — Bree Olson has evidently gone back home to Ft. Wayne, Indiana — when I saw this news at TMZ.

Lots more developments on the Sheen front today, but obviously the cancellation of Sheen’s $2-million-an-episode TV deal is the biggest yet.

UPDATE II: Tracing back the events that led to this, Sheen’s hateful rant against Two and a Half Men producer Chuck Lorre — on 9/11 conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s radio show — was the first burned bridge. When Sheen then gave interviews to ABC, NBC and CNN trashing CBS, those were a few more bridges. But his “Sheen’s Korner” Internet show might have been the final burned bridge. In Sunday’s second installment, Sheen took to the ‘Net with a 13-minute video rant:

“All I’m gonna give them is the [bleeping] truth, and I’m gonna deliver it in a way that’s violent and focused and not like they’re used to ever because they’re high on vaccines, and McDonald’s, and US Weekly, and TMZ and every other [bleeping expletive] brand of food that they consume…. So I’m just gonna write my sermons. I’m gonna deliver them like truth torpedos and people are gonna [bleeping] take it or leave it. We know they’re gonna take it ’cause they can’t process it, so they must condemn it. If they can’t condemn it, they’ll [bleeping] like turn me into a God and worship it and then realize I’m behind them cutting their throats and their children.”

As I wrote at the Spectator:

They say money can’t buy happiness. Apparently, it can’t buy sanity, either.

He’s promised another episode of “Sheen’s Korner” tonight at 10 p.m. ET, and that should be . . . well, interesting.

UPDATE III: Big Hollywood’s Jim Nolte notes that this morning it was rumored a compromise deal was being worked out to bring Sheen back to Two and a Half Men. And now, “you have to believe Sheen will be haunted by second thoughts,” Nolte says:

One of the best jobs in entertainment is starring in a hit sitcom. The money is crazy, the hours are cake, and you’re treated like a king. . . .
Will Sheen still feel like he’s winning! if “Two and a Half Men” marches on successfully without him for another season or two while he’s tied up in court and doing podcasts with his buddies? Or is he so wealthy and self-assured, he won’t care?

“Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”Proverbs 16:18 (KJV)

UPDATE IV: Thanks to That Mr. G Guy for notifying me of Sheen’s comment to TMZ:

“This is very good news. They continue to be in breach, like so many whales. It is a big day of gladness at the Sober Valley Lodge because now I can take all of their bazillions, never have to look at whatshiscock again and I never have to put on those silly shirts for as long as this warlock exists in the terrestrial dimension.”

He’s got a great future ahead of him, doing voice-overs in those cuckoo-for-Cocoa Puffs commercials.

UPDATE V: The Los Angeles Times has long excerpts of the letter that the lawyers for Warner Bros. sent to Sheen’s lawyer:

“Warner Bros. would not, could not, and should not attempt to continue `business as usual’ while Mr. Sheen destroys himself as the world watches,” the letter said. . . .
Sheen’s “self-destructive conduct resulted in his hospitalization, his inability to work at all for a period and the rapid erosion of the cooperative and creative process necessary to produce the show,” the studio’s lawyers said. The letter goes on to say that Sheen’s admitted drug use and “furnishing of cocaine” to others puts him in violation of his contract. “There is ample evidence supporting Warner Bros. reasonable good faith opinion that Mr. Sheen has committed felony offenses involving moral turpitude … that have interfered with his ability to fully and completely render all material services required” under his contract.

UPDATE VI: Dan Collins suggests a replacement for Sheen on Two and a Half Men, and it ain’t Alcee Hastings.

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