Charlie Sheen has filed suit against his former employer Warner Bros., along with Two and a Half Men showrunner Chuck Lorre for $100 million.
“Chuck Lorre, one of the richest men in television who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, believes himself to be so wealthy and powerful that he can unilaterally decide to take money away from the dedicated cast and crew of the popular television series Two and a Half Men in order to serve his own ego and self-interest and make the star of the Series the scapegoat,” reads the opening of the lawsuit. “Charlie Sheen is not only seeking payment for his own compensation for the Series, but he is also pursuing claims for the benefit of the entire cast and crew to get paid the balance of the season’s 24 episodes.”
In the lawsuit, Sheen claims that Warner Brothers had no problem signing him to a two-year extension last May (worth $90 million) even though he was facing felony charges and had known substance abuse issues.
“None of these resulted in Warner Bros. suspending Mr. Sheen. What did?”
According to Sheen and his attorney, is the actor criticizing Lorre “after years of Lorre humiliating, harassing and disparaging Mr. Sheen.”
The lawsuit cites the recent closing card on “Two and a Half Men” that referred to a “Hooker in the Closet” (referencing Sheen’s Plaza hotel trashing), and Lorre advising people watching Men to “avoid degrading yourself by having meaningless sex with stranger in a futile attempt to fill the emptiness in your soul”.”
“Because of his financial leverage with Warner Bros. and CBS by having two other profitable series with them [Big Bang Theory and Mike & Molly], Lorre convinced Warner Bros. to conspire with him and attribute the suspension of the Series and termination of Mr. Sheen’s contract on Mr. Sheen’s alleged statements, conduct and condition, despite the fact that Mr. Sheen is in compliance with his contract,” the suit reads.
The suit goes on to accuse Lorre of refusing to produce scripts when Sheen was ready to return to work on Feb. 14 — a key point, since it suggests that Lorre, not Sheen, was responsible for production being halted. Warner Bros. insiders have maintained that since the original idea was to give Sheen a month off to get sober, when the actor suddenly pronounced himself cured and said he’s ready to come back to work, it was unreasonable to expect scripts to be ready so quickly.
Warner Bros. has released no comment.
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