Warner Bros fire Sheen from sitcom

WARNER BROS Television last night said it had fired Charlie Sheen from the hit sitcom Two and a Half Men.

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

Sheen’s erratic personal life had prompted Warner to suspend production on the show for the season, and Sheen in return had been waging an angry media campaign against the show’s producers.

Sheen, 45, was believed to have been paid about $2 million (€1.4m)per episode, including fees for reruns.

No decision has been made on the future of the series, Warner Bros. said.

Production of Two and a Half Men was suspended in January when Sheen, 45, was persuaded to seek help after a wild 36-hour party at his home that ended with him being hospitalised.

In an interview on a syndicated radio programme and in remarks to celebrity website TMZ.com in the following weeks, Sheen called Two and A Half Men producer and co-creator Chuck Lorre a “charlatan (who) chose not to do his job,” a “piece of shit” and a “stupid, stupid little man”.

The feud has continued since then, with Sheen spawning a new array of slang terminology such as “tiger blood”. He has said he is “not bi-polar, but bi-winning”. The public frenzy for the spat saw him amass one million Twitter followers in record time. He set up the account on March 1 and took just 25 hours to reach the milestone.

Sheen, reportedly on $27.5 million (€20m) a year, also belittled Alcoholics Anonymous and claimed he had cured himself “with my mind” after four weeks of drug and alcohol treatment at his home. He had been in three stints in rehab over the past 12 months.

Throughout 2010, the actor was involved in a series of drug and alcohol-related incidents, and in August pleaded guilty to an assault on his now ex-wife.