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Charlie Sheen is Batshit Crazypants
Today it seems no amount of spin can control actor Charlie Sheen, who has taken to the media today on his own campaign to let everyone know he's not crazy, they are. And since he's doing such a bang-up job of spreading his message around the airwaves and internet, and, well, frankly, since it seems like an impossible gig, his publicist has just announced he's quit.
Okay, we'll back up a bit, since we aren't following the Sheen beat as devotedly as our friends at Gothamist. Sheen's shenanigans got the whole production of CBS's "Two and a Half Men" shut down for good last week, prompting Sheen to go on the radio and rant a little about Chuck Lorre, the show's producer, and refer to him by his Hebrew name, Chaim Levine.
Sheen (nee Carlos Estevez, for what it's worth) took the cancellation as the symptom of a larger injustice. He wrote an open letter, posted on TMZ saying: "I urge all my beautiful and loyal fans who embraced this show for almost a decade to walk with me side-by-side as we march up the steps of justice to right this unconscionable wrong."
Well, anyhow. Sheen said he would show up to work no matter what (he's been banned from the Warner Bros. lot), and this morning, after some TV interviews, let TMZ do a live interview with him from the backyard, no less, of his "winning palace of goddesses." Looking pale and gaunt, Sheen let fly about his publicist, dad Martin Sheen, CBS execs, and what he hopes to tell his kids someday about his drug use. After that, well, his publicist quit. Do you blame him?
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In a statement released Monday morning, Stan Rosenfield said, “I have worked with Charlie Sheen for a long time and I care about him very much. However, at this time, I’m unable to work effectively as his publicist and have respectfully resigned.”
At this point, the headlines pretty much all point to one direction: Charlie Sheen is batshit crazy. When the words "rant" and "meltdown" go along with your name and your public appearances, and the content of your rants range from blaming the producers for paying you too much to saying you'll only go back to work for a 50% raise, well, there's a serious loss of grip on reality.
Is he on drugs? Probably. Does he need help? Definitely. Should he be in rehab, like the rumor had it he was this morning? Sure. Is he ready for rehab? Probably not.
Sadly, it's likely Sheen's going to have to meltdown to a new low before he will get his life together. In the meantime, his antics keep grabbing our attention, and, because Hollywood is a bit of a circus act, we look. Charlie Sheen gives good internet, but, the truth is, addicts die unless they get help. He's up to his eyeballs in the addict's narrative of "it's your fault not mine," and hopefully he can find a way out. We--as in all us on-lookers--don't owe him anything, though, and can't do much to save him.
He's certainly taken on his own publicity...let's see if he can take on his own salvation.
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