Charlie Sheen, the highest-paid actor on American television, has been fired by Warner Brothers after his rhetorical rampage and months of drug and alcohol abuse.
The studio drafted an 11-page letter addressed to Sheen’s representatives explaining that he was to be dismissed with immediate effect, forfeiting millions of dollars left on his contract for Two and A Half Men.
The actor, who had already been suspended from the show, responded with an explicit text message sent to the Associated Press agency. “They lose,” he wrote. “Trolls.” Marty Singer, Sheen’s lawyer, said the studio would face legal action if the contract was not fulfilled.
Warner Brothers have justified their decision in a 5,000-word letter that includes links to scores of newspaper articles and blog posts which have chronicled the actor’s behaviour in recent years.
“Your client has been engaged in dangerously self-destructive conduct and appears to be very ill. For months before the suspension of production, Mr Sheen’s erratic behavior escalated while his condition deteriorated. His declining condition undermined the production in numerous and significant ways,” the letter read.
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“Now, the entire world knows Mr Sheen’s condition from his alarming outbursts over just the last few weeks. Warner Brothers, CBS, and Chuck Lorre have done everything within their power to get Mr Sheen the help he so badly and obviously needs.”
Any legal case which arises over the dismissal is likely to centre on two claims made by Warner Brothers. Firstly they allege that he was unable to carry out his work when he returned to the set in January, they claim he missed several rehearsals and that outtakes of the filming prove he was unable to remember his lines and cues.
They also claimed that Sheen was in breach of contract when he committed “felony offences involving moral turpitude (including but not limited to furnishing of cocaine to others as part of the self-destructive lifestyle he has described publicly)”.
Sheen, 45, reacted to his suspension from the programme in February by unleashing a series of broadcast rants in which he insulted the programme’s producers, threatened violence and appeared to make anti-Semitic remarks.
In one of the fiercest public disputes between an actor and his producers in Hollywood history, Sheen appeared in repeated interviews claiming his genius had been misunderstood by the CBS network’s production team.
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“What they are not ready for are guys like you and I that are high priests. Vatican assassins, warlocks,” he said.
“My brain fires in a way that is . . . maybe not from this particular terrestrial realm . . . I’m tired of pretending I ‘m not a total bitchin’ rock star from Mars.”
The actor, who was reportedly paid $1.8 million (£1.1 million) per episode, said he would only return to work for $3 million for each show.
As he continued to glorify himself as “a battle-tested bayonet” with “fire-breathing fists” and “Adonis DNA”, the public fascination saw him draw one million followers on Twitter in record time. As many as 100,000 people are believed to have since logged on to his video webcasts.