LOS ANGELES — Warner Bros. has fired Charlie Sheen from the hit CBS show “Two and a Half Men.” The move comes after several weeks of very public battling between the actor and CBS, Warner Bros. and “Two and a Half Men” co-creator Chuck Lorre.
Production on the show was stopped in late January after top executives from CBS and Warner Bros. confronted Sheen about his private life. Sheen has made no secret of embracing a sex, drugs and rock-‘n’-roll lifestyle. Messy divorces, accusations of violence toward women and trips to rehab have been staples of his life for more than two decades.
None of his personal life seemed to have had any impact on his career. He is the highest-paid actor in television, with a salary that reaches $2 million an episode when his part of rerun money is included. Although production was also halted last year because of Sheen’s personal issues, CBS and Warner Bros. never publicly came out against him.
That all changed last month when Sheen suddenly became very critical of Lorre, Warner Bros. and CBS. He made fun of Lorre, leading CBS and Warner Bros. to announce they were suspending production of the show for the rest of the season.
Sheen then retained Hollywood lawyer Marty Singer, who threatened to sue Warner Bros. if Sheen was not paid for the rest of his contract, which runs through next season.
Warner Bros. and CBS did not say whether they would try to keep the show alive without Sheen.
