Even in the bacchanalian world of Hollywood, few are more closely associated with the excesses of fame than Charlie Sheen — from his cameo in madam Heidi Fleiss’ little black book to chronic public drug battles to more than one ex alleging, at one time or another, that they’d been either threatened or physically harmed by his outbursts. Now, the Two and a Half Men star is likely to serve a plea-bargained 30-day jail sentence in connection with a Christmas Day fight in Aspen with wife Brooke Mueller, People.com reports, with prosecutors dropping the felony menacing charge against him for allegedly pulling a knife on his spouse. (The two are now reportedly reconciled after both spent time in rehab earlier this year.) With presumed good behavior, Sheen will be out in about two weeks.
So why does the 44-year-old actor’s life-long career seem to be built of Teflon? Why such sustained public outrage over the antics of, say, championship-grade philanderer Tiger Woods, while Sheen becomes TV’s highest-paid actor on TV’s No. 1 sitcom despite repeated violent outbursts, not to mention myriad other scandals? The worst fallout Sheen has experienced so far has been getting dropped from Hanes ads costarring Michael Jordan — a loss that’s a lot easier to take when you’ve just signed a new contract to remain on your hit CBS sitcom for somewhere around a million bucks an episode. His jail time will even reportedly fall at a convenient time — before Two and a Half Men goes back into production in August. If things go as planned, this will mark the first actual jail time of his illustrious career in bad-boy-dom. And he’ll likely, once again, emerge virtually unscathed.
It seems to me that the answer to his extraordinary ability to survive any scandal lies in his choice of roles. From early on, he’s leaned into his natural tendencies, almost always playing cocky screw-ups with a dark side. His cameo as the sexy, leather-jacket-clad criminal Jennifer Grey meets in the police station in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off set the template for his entire career. His beloved-cad roles on television have taken no pains to hide their parallels with Sheen’s real-life persona: On Spin City, his skirt-chasing deputy mayor was named Charlie Crawford; on Two and a Half Men, his irresponsible, serial womanizer is named Charlie Harper. His antics just seem a natural extension of the guys he plays; audiences have come to expect nothing else from him, unlike Tiger Woods, who’d cultivated a saint-like image before his scandal broke. Though it may be time for us to acknowledge, as a viewing public, that his real-life actions — which go far beyond amusing one-night stands — carry very real consequences.
The question, PopWatchers: Should we forgive Charlie Sheen so easily? And why do you think we do?
More Charlie Sheen:
Charlie Sheen will return to ‘Two and a Half Men’
Charlie Sheen on ‘Two and a Half Men’: ‘If this is the end…so be it’
Would you watch ‘Two and a Half Men’ without Charlie Sheen?
Charlie Sheen arrested in alleged domestic violence case
His agent must be amazing.
I’ve never watched his TV show and always thought he was a creep. I did enjoy “Wall Street,” though.
That’s what I thought too…or Charlie is good at giving d***K…did anybody see the movie Someone to watch over me with Rosie Perez & Harvey Keitel…there’s this scene where Keitel explains what he would do to get an acting job…watch it and understand.
I agree that he must have a great agent and PR team. I was amazed that his “9/11 was a conspiracy” interview got little attention (even from the 9/11 families). When the highest paid sitcom actor can go out and announce conspiracy theories on the radio and nobody mentions it, his team is working overtime. Threatens his wife with a knife, 30 days in jail but keeps his paycheck and his show. I guess the point of a morals clause in a contract is just a convenient way to get rid of people who are no longer profitable. As long as he brings in the viewers and the advertiser dollars, his personal behavior is acceptable.
I would only say he has a good PR team if his behaviour was kept out of the press – but it isn’t. Everyone knows about his behaviour. His people aren’t spinning it at all. So the question is: why is anybody still watching when it’s public news that he’s a jerk, while other people go down in flames? And his show is just awful, to boot?
all hail charlie sheen…long live the king!
Yep, as long as continues to entertain me, I couldn’t care less what he does in his personal life.
That’s pretty sad, you know. From what I can gather, the guy disrespects pretty much every woman he comes in contact with, and has never actually had to atone for anything in his life. It makes sense that you would like the crapfest that is Two and a Half Men.
Anybody who defends this idiot needs to have their head examined.
Anyone who defends his horrible, unfunny show or is “entertained” by this creep needs to have their heads examined also!
Yeah, call me when he gets around to the “entertaining” us part of your sentence.
Yeah, let’s see Sheen date or marry your daughter, sister, mother, etc. beat her, hold a gun to her, etc. and see how entertained you remain you bunch of dopes.
I agree with Sparkle the gym bag……”all hail charlie sheen…long live the king!”…..ever since I saw him first in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.
you must be every bit the tool that he is.
That was a good cameo, Wall Street still kicks a$$ too, wish he had the starring role instead of that gimp LaBoof.
What’s to forgive? He didn’t threaten me. If his wife is willing to move past it, it certainly doesn’t concern me. Besides, it’s not like his pulled a Chris Brown. If anything, I think he’s getting treated too harshly.
how did he not “pull a chris brown”? he is getting jail time for domestic violence. and it is not the first time. he plead no contest to charges of battery with serious bodily injury in 1996 when he knocked his then girlfriend to the floor, leaving her bloodied and briefly unconscious. you really don’t care that this man abuses women? that is horrible and shameful.
Hey, if the girl is crazy enough to take the bull, who’s crazier? Him or her? As far as I’m concerned, the women he dates know how he is. If they get into a relationship with him, well, at their own risk!!
The truth? Sheen has more comedic talent than he thinks. He can act. That being said, he has issues and perhaps he should talk to actor Robert Downey Jr. to understand what he do to work on bettering himself.
My feeling: (And this is something I brought up around the time he was arrested for menacing his wife and some people were annoyed that Sheen was basically being given a free pass, while Chris Brown was roasted for hitting Rihanna.)
Charlie Sheen is basically a scumbag. He’s been a scumbag for a long time. When he does scumbag-y things, I think we involuntarily feel like, “Well, that’s just Charlie Sheen being Charlie Sheen. What do you expect?” (As opposed to the the likes of Tiger Woods, and even Chris Brown, whose indiscretions were a TOTAL shocker to everyone.)
Sheen’s screen persona was probably a big part of the reason his behavior was excused in the beginning (as this article pointed out), but by this point, when I hear something about Sheen, it’s more like “Of course Charlie Sheen threatened his wife with a knife.” (Allegedly.)
To take it one step further (and perhaps I shouldn’t) it seems that by now the women who chose to be with him should know what they are getting into. So when he roughs up another woman, well, what did she expect?
You definitely shouldn’t take it to victim-blaming.
Ames – So she deserves to get threatened or physically harmed by Sheen?
No, anony, no one deserves that. But by now, women should know better than to date/marry this scumbag. He practically comes with a Surgeon General’s warning.
None of his wives or girlfriends have deserved any violence or humiliation at his hands. That said, from here on, any woman who has a realtionship with him, should have her head examined. I don’t care if she thinks she can change him, if she’s under the influence, or being paid to hang out with him. He is not someone who knows how to treat women with any sort of respect. My sister and I wondered what Denise Richards was thinking when she married him, but at least she was ‘smart’ enough to get out before he got too bad.
But I still don’t know why he’s made of teflon. Truly, when I heard he physically threatened his wife, I thought he’d reached beyond low. Many of my friends laughed, thinking hell, it’s Charlie Sheen. She knew who she married. I guess if you don’t pretend to be good, you can get away with anything? That’s horrible in its own way.
Yeah, women like Sandra Bullock marry pony-tail wearing neo nazi, auto mechanics and they’re all “so shocked” when it doesn’t work out. Wake up ladies!
I don’t think Ames is literally victim-blaming. He/She is saying that that’s the general attitude and that’s why the media isn’t going after Sheen as much as Chris Brown.
My wife said the EXACT same thing as Ames last night when they talked about him on one of those Extra-type shows.
Well, your wife should examine her morals. I mean, it’s one thing to say, “Wow, that lady must be a masochist of some sort” when she married him, but to trivialize the situation by saying that the victim should have known he was going to hold a knife to her throat and threaten to kill her? Shame on your wife.
Totally agree. I personally won’t watch him, but the lack of backlash doesn’t surprise me since he practically walks around with a nametag that says “Charlie Sheen. Schmuck.” It’s just accepted fact that he’ll stoop pretty low. He can’t surprise anyone, so no one stops to re-evaluate their opinion of him.
Okay, the wife he’s with — what the h**ll does she do for a living? See there are women in Hollywood mainly who are magnets to the Sheen-type guys, and they will take the abuse and do the drugs, just to be the wife of “Charlie Sheen” and all that it brings her. But she has no talent that I know of, so outside of the marriage, what’s she left with?
I loce him
He is what he is. No one is shocked by his behavior because he has never ever pretended to be anything other than a hard-living cad. The people who surround him are pretty shrewd– smarter to pick jail time than probation– they realized he had no chance of making it through two years of probation with all of his vices. Also, I think in this case, people are less than sympathetic towards the wife– she’s . . . not quite a gem.
Exactly. Tiger and Chris Brown had these images that were manufactured so when their true nature revealed itself you can never see the person the same way again. He’s always been a bad boy type and never pretened to be a holier than thou manufactured celebrity – something he wasn’t and never will be – people can respect someone who’s honest more than they can a person who’s phony. I think thats why people don’t care what he does…look at Mike Tyson
exactly. Charlie has never suffered a Tiger Woods-esque fallout because he’s never pretended to have a wholesome family-man image. It’s easy to fall and get back up again when you were never on a pedestal in the first place.
Bingo! We have a winner.
Ew. Guys, he threatened his wife with a knife. Who cares if the woman in question is “not quite a gem”? He disgusts me.
Ten bucks says that that wouldn’t stop you from watching his show, though.
I don’t watch his show, I have never watched his show – *because* he disgusts me. I apologize if I was not clear on that point.
I wouldn’t watch his show if he was the Dalai freaking Lama
Your opinion of him is irrelevant to the topic of the blog post. He’s still making lots and lots of money regardless.
The show is horrible — I’ve seen about an episode and a half — and Sheen literally makes me feel sick. I will NOT be watching his show, and I genuinely hope it gets cancelled.
Here’s my relevant opinion: I do not know why Sheen’s career is “scandal-proof,” because as far as I’m concerned he deserves one.
I don’t watch his show and it’s not because he’s a pig – and he is a pig. He’s been a pig since he shot Kelly Preston & dated porn stars and hookers. But, I don’t watch his show because – it’s not funny. I have no idea why anyone is watching it. LOL!
I would say most people don’t care if he disgusts you. CBS sure as hell doesn’t given his recent pay raise.
over and over again people say “if you don’t like him, don’t watch”. that’s the way to cast your vote. i liked the show but i stopped watching when this thing broke. off subject, i stopped watching jon & kate when the twins started talking to jon the way kate did. folks, cast your vote. ratings go down, cbs doesn’t love him anymore! MONEY TALKS!
Part of me thinks it’s because he’s not famous enough for people to care. He hovers around the brink of being a big star, but never quite gets there. Plus, playin gthose womanizing/bad boy roles on TV doesn’t hurt, either.
He has a famous father, and Charlie himself has been famous (on and offscreen) for well over 20 years.
On top of that, he’s the lead in the most-watched comedy on television.
I’m just sayin’…how much more famous does he need to get for people to care?
Not quite a big star? How many millions per episode = a “star” in your book?
I guess I was thinking star amongst the likes of Brad Pitt….. I’m pretty sure if this scandal had happened to Brad, EVERYONE would care.
but see…some people still like Brad Pitt. At least enough to not think he’d stoop as low as Charlie Sheen.
Charlie Sheen is my hero!
Wow, Vince. Way to aim low.
I have an image in my head of Charlie Sheen getting taken out of the hole in Shawshank Prison. “Time’s up Sheen.”, Sheen chuckles “It’s your world boss”
Then he goes back to the set where Angus T. Jones and Jon Cryer are waiting for him in his dressing room. “What is this?” Then they beat him savagely.
Two things never happened after that day, Charlie Sheen was never able to get a woman to agree to marry him again, also he never made anymore crappy sitcoms again. (VO by Morgan Freeman naturally).
I’m sad that I laughed.
blah
thumbs upski
I really don’t get it. I don’t think he’s that great of an actor, and I haven’t liked anything he’s done since Hot Shots. Not to mention the man shot his girlfriend in the arm once. But whatever, people are apparently going to watch him no matter what.
Me too. I just don’t get him. Period.
I have been trying to figure that out for years. Mr. Sheen has a very colorful history when it comes to women, drugs, and whatever else you can think of. Now he didn’t invent this. There are stars who have ‘colorful’ histories too. But they dealt with much harsher consequences than Mr. Sheen. Look at Robert Downey Jr. Mr. Downey’s career took some hits because of his drug problems and it kind of helped him clean up. From what I understand he had to pay for his own insurance to do Gothika because the studio didn’t want to risk it and it was very expensive. I have never heard anything like that about Mr. Sheen and I would love to know why?
mind our own business for starters. No one peeks in your curtains.
He doesn’t claim to be a “role model”. That’s why he can *get* away with murder. Atta boy.
I compare what has happened with Charlie Sheen to what has happened with the Chris Brown/Rhianna situation. Why as a society have we crusified Brown – his album sales are down, most radio stations won’t play his music on principal. I have NO tolerance for any sort of violence against woman PERIOD. Too bad the media doesn’t follow suit.
Racism?
I think it’s different b/c 1- Brown showed no tendency to that type of behavior and 2- He hit the biggest pop star at the time who was also a very young girl. It’s who Sheen is picking on, no one cares about Denise Richards or the new one. They knew who he was and they went for it. No one knew who Chris Brown was, so were blindsided.
so, are you telling me that if you tell the world that you are a douchebag and hit/kill someone people will just shrug their shoulders and say, “oh it’s just charlie being charlie”? that is a sad testament to our society.
Please. Why is there any question about this? Charlie Sheen is on the highest rated TV show. CBS makes major dollars from it. That math makes sense to me, and I am not even good at it!
and that fact is simply pathetic. The show is not even remotely funny. He plays a creep who treats women like garbage. He is also a horrible father who is teaching his son to be every bit the creep that he is. And people find this crap entertaining? Huh??