Image Credit: Glenn Harris/PR Photos; Chris Hatcher/PR PhotosThe F-18 has dropped its payload: Charlie Sheen has sued his former employer Warner Bros., and Two and a Half Men showrunner Chuck Lorre for $100 million. He’s also suing on behalf of the show’s cast and crew, though none have actually joined Sheen as parties to the lawsuit. (Read the suit here.)
In a document filed Thursday, Sheen laid out a detailed accusation that sought to portray his downfall as a scheme orchestrated by Lorre to push him from the hit show. Lorre’s motivation was an “egotistical desire to punish” the actor, the suit says.
“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.”
The suit claims that Warner Bros. had no problem signing Sheen to two more years on Men, even though he was dealing with substance abuse issues and had pending felony and misdemeanor charges pending against him. “Warner Bros. understood that Mr. Sheen suffered from alleged physical and mental disabilities … none of these resulted in Warner Bros. suspending Mr. Sheen. What did?”
The answer, according to Sheen and his attorney, is the actor criticizing Lorre during media interviews “after years of Lorre humiliating, harassing, and disparaging Mr. Sheen.” As examples, the suit cites a Lorre-penned on-air vanity card 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.” (Sheen, it seems, assumed that statement referred to him.)
“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 following the show’s suspension 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 — so 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.
The suit claims Sheen has “suffered the intangible loss of employment-related opportunities” and asks for $100 million and punitive damages, plus compensation for other Warner Bros. employees impacted by the work stoppage.
One law professor wasn’t impressed by the lawsuit. “Mr. Sheen has as much right as any disgruntled employee to sue his employer, if he thinks he’s being treated unfairly,” said Anthony Michael Sabino of St. John’s University’s Peter J. Tobin College of Business. “But what is the legal basis for his claim? He has a contract with Warner, which is probably a thick as a phone book. What provisions of the contract he signed does he contend Warner violated? Conversely, what will Warner throw back at him as to contract provisions, more likely restrictions, that Warner says he violated? It’s one thing to go on the Internet and rant; it’s quite another to walk into an austere courtroom and make a case.”
Warner Bros., had no comment, but the studio laid out its side of the story in a letter sent to Sheen’s attorney last week explaining why the actor was fired. Read about that here.
UPDATE: Chuck Lorre issues statement slamming Charlie Sheen’s lawsuit as “fantasy.”
Read more:
Charlie Sheen Central
Chef Charlie Sheen on FunnyorDie: ‘I don’t cook food, I will it’
Charlie Sheen says Rob Lowe should replace him on ‘Two and a Half Men’
Who should replace Charlie Sheen?Why CBS should re-launch Men without Sheen
Charlie Sheen Webcast taunts CBS as his online viewership drops
Holland Taylor defends Sheen
Charlie Sheen Webcast: The saddest performance of his career
Meh…
I’m actually disappointed he didn’t sue for a trillion dollars.
I want to sue Charlie Sheen for one bazillion dollars in punitive damages for the endless suffering I have endured by being forced to see him on every single media outlet, every day, for the last three weeks. Mr. Sheen has conspired with these media outlets and leveraged his “celebrity status” against the media’s lemming-like and Pavlovian need to exaggerate any and all controversy, ad nauseum, until my head explodes. Because I am convinced that Mr. Sheen covets the sweet and tasty brain matter hidden inside all of our skulls because it is the only way his Adonis DNA can replicate the red “Tiger” blood cells to keep him sentient. So sweet. So tasty.
hheh.. nuf said.
GO GET ‘EM, CHARLIE!
I agree with you, this rich fellow need to pay for what they did to Charlie Sheen. Hope he gets all the money he is asking for and then more.
Warner has screwed sooooo many of their employees over the decades. Please, spare me your excuses for the big studio. I don’t need to hear them.
What a bunch of morons to think that Sheen is innocent in this whole thing.
Sheen is a spoiled addict jerk and his enablers on this board are morons
Re: Sheen’s interviews and his own comments… He stated that he was too big to fail and that Warner Bros. and Chuck Lorre were not smart enough to scheme his downfall. Apparently a “rock star from mars” is not in high demand. Besides… who wants to watch what the “human mind cannot comprehend?” Is it possible to plead the fifth when one’s own comments lead comprehending minds to understand the futility of employing nothing? Nothing, after all, is what the human mind cannot comprehend. Nothing by definition is the absence of everything… including a job Charlie! You should have thought that through or do I not comprehend something?
Little Miss Innocent Warner Bros? ARE YOU INSANE?
No one screwed the workers except Sheen. Because of his breakdown, hundreds of people’s lives were financially impacted. Anyone that supports Sheen is immature and ignorant. There is nothing cool about taking too much coke and going on a rampage. Then again, the world is filled with stupid people.
Chuck Lorre started this whole entire thing with the stupid “Hooker in the Closet” and “Die & Pi$$ed” vanity cards! Vanity Cards are just that! And, that is what the egotistical man is – VANITY. He is mad at how much money Charlie makes and he pushed Charlie to the edge knowing he would go over – then, he got rid of him. All Chuck Lorre’s fault. No one had a prob with Charlie – my goodness they gave him a raise last year after the assault on Brooke in Vail. Come on, Chuck, Fess UP!!
Charlie was Hiams trained monkey, and he knew full well going in what Charlie was about. Looked the other way the entire time. That’s not good business, but as long as it continued to make everyone rich they obviously didn’t give a damn.
Whoever wins, we lose.
We are already winners: Two and Half Men is off the air.
Thankfully the show is gone, it was a waste of valuable time for everyone. Canned laughter and all. Charlie has got to be given a 5150, in other words, locked up in a ward and detoxed totally. He needs help desperately. Anyone with a sane mind can see he is gravelly ill. He will kill someone or himself, the ho’s are at risk.
The show is coming back next fall, people. Without Sheen, yes, but it’s coming back. Don’t celebrate yet.
damn straight. having men off the air is win enough (please don’t recast, please don’t recast). though sheen has admittedly been on board the crazy train i give him props fro trying to stick it to lorre…and according to his suit, his claims make a lot more sense than the BS that came from CBS. lorre’s a tool. hope he gets what’s coming to him.
Oh please. The show was funny, which is why it got such high ratings and why it lives in syndication.
And it’s becoming more clear now who the “half a man” was.
@Jeremy W – can I be include in your class action lawsuit! (LOL)
nice AVP quote
Hear hear.
We’ll always be losers because this god-awful show will run in syndication for the rest of time.
The entire production company loses. Charlie never signed a morality contract. Hiam can’t dictate everything a star does in their private life (regardless of what anything may think) and when you break your contract with someone for millions of dollars you should expect a lawsuit. I’m sure they were counting on something like this happening or they wouldn’t have jerked him around so much in the first place, and allowed it to get the rotten point that it did. WB sucks.
Hey Charlie, I thought you were getting paid as long as the show stays on the air. Get your story straight and maybe READ your contract.
Those two statements are not in opposition.
Charlie does get paid royalty as long as Two and a Half Men stay on the air. But the issue is that he and the crew are *not* getting paid for the four episodes that were cancelled at the end of the season.
Let me get this straight? You hired me as a screw up, so as I become a bigger screw up, you can’t fire me cause you knew I was a screw up? Wow, what a great lawyer Charlie!!!!
Oh hell yeah! Charlie is going to rip that douchebag producer a new one. Including the cast/crew in the lawsuit is brilliant! #WINNING
Failing !! Dude
Wow, Pete. I’ve never met an actual sycophant before. Please be sure to print your opions to savor as you sup on fish bones under that overpass with all the other tweakers. The most fascinating thing about your post is that you have access to the internet; they let anybody into the library these days.
Let’s be honest. This has nothing to do with anyone but Charlie Sheen. He’s just dragging the cast and crew in to make it seem like Lorre is the bad guy. The cast and crew are out because of Charlie. Plain and simple.
*WINNING*
too, that Sheen’s company is called “9th step”. That’s the sobriety step where you’re supposed to make amends to all the people you have hurt.
That’s kinda ironic, give the huge amount of damage he’s done to himself and his family and his co-wokrers.
I was laughing at the “9th step” thing too!
I’d actually like to know what legal basis the guy has for including people in his litigation matter without their permission.
It’s all entertainment, on or off the show, so I’m all for it. And I’m not even a lawyer.
How is losing your wife, kids and job winning?
how is it not winning?
jk. oh yeah it’s terrible. more like FAILING.
Pretty sure Pete was being sarcastic … right Pete?
Is that the only thing you know too say? Every post. Grab a dictionary for gods sake.
Yea, a bunch of haters on here. Two and half Men is one of the best shows on the air right now (besides Family Guy). If Charlie is doing drugs or not, he did his job spot on. Got the ratings. Killed it. He is a winner, no matter if he bangs big rocks or not.
Those of you hating on him, hate on his fat bank account and hot chicks and your crappy job and fatty you go home to.
If you think Two and a Half Men is a good show then you are an idiot. The humor is stale and the delivery is flat. I appreciate that it consistently gets high ratings, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that we are nation of simpletons and half-wits. There are some genuinely smart, well written shows on the air right now, but Two and Half Men doesn’t come close to being one.
@ Andreas – If Charlie wants to pay good money to go home to nasty, disease ridden sloppy seconds from the porn industry, who are we to judge? All that money, all that fame, too bad he can’t buy himslef a little common decency. At least he has butt sniffers like you to admire and defend him.
He’s got a point about that one thing…. none of his antics were a problem when they kept re-signing him and giving him raises. It is clearly the insults that got him fired
Yeah, well usually in most jobs you start insulting your boss, you’re going to get fired.
But was it OK for his boss to publicly insult him in his vanity cards, and in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in which he calls Charlie a degenerate? Lorre also says in the same interview that Charlie is professinal on the set and does his job.
you’re right about that. I got laid off just because I had thoughts about how stupid my boss was. A real mind-reader
kerry Thu 03/10/11 2:08 PMBut was it OK for his boss to publicly insult him in his vanity cards, and in an interview with the Hollywood Reporter in which he calls Charlie a degenerate? Lorre also says in the same interview that Charlie is professinal on the set and does his job. *** well then I guess Lorre was NOT insulting him then……
Mary, Lorre was insulting Charlie’s character in a public forum. Charlie retaliated in a public forum, but was fired for it. And when they fired him they claimed moral turpitude, which makes them hypocrites because according to the lawsuit, they were willing to take Charlie back after the Aspen incident, even if he was convicted of a felony. (He wasn’t.)
Oh, Kerry. Go to TMZ and read the letter they gave him when he was fired. They outline it all very clearly.
Charlie is just venting his angst against the producers of the show to sack him without any reason when the show is top rating. Its very unfair.
There is no legal requirement of consistency. Any single incident at any time can be grounds for termination.
But it will be fairly easy to prove in court that the show/network had no problem with the behavior that they state they fired him for.
In the end, a jury might just side with Charlie. I’d be surprised if this doesn’t settle
That is 100% incorrect
@tarc
It depends on what your contract says and laws your state have.
Some states you can fire somebody for any reason, but if somebody else does the same thing you have to fire them also.
If somebody wears a red sweater and you don’t like it you can fire them, but you have to fire everybody that wears a red sweater.
Completely incorect@tarc. only way to be terminated at any time is being an “at will” employee. The fact that he was on contract and obviously sick goes against labor laws.
ipatch, not completely true either. His “sickness” was self inflected. He was not diagnosed with cancer or some other ailment that could happen to anyone. Nor was his sickness a result of a legal activity, ie hiking accident, smoking, etc. His sickness is the result of willfully and willing taking part in illegal activity, illegal drugs. He therefore through illegal activities willing rendered himself sick which makes his employer not responsible and gives them cause for termination.
Then why didn’t they fire him as soon as soon as he got sick? They only fired him after he criticized Lorre.
Especially a jury that has skanks on it [wink wink]
Again dolts, read his termination letter. It clearly states that when they re-signed his contract it was because he had entered into rehad and was being professional again. When Carlos fell off the wagon they were willing to work with him until he decided to fire his sobriety coach and then claim in public interviews that he had cured himself. Carlos then started bashing the producers, and sorry, as a representative of the brand he is not allowed to do that. In fact, he is not allowed to even participate in interviews regarding the show without the permission of the producers. So Kerry, since you want to spout off without having ANY facts, there you go. You now have them.
It doesn’t have anything to do with him being “sick”. He has made a totally uncomfortable work enviornment.
Isn’t it the defendent who gets to choose if they want a jury? Warner will not risk having a jury decide this. A judge will decide. It will all come down to whether the judge regularly parties with Warner executives or Charlie Sheen’s friends.
Lot of people that have obviously never sued their employer commenting here.
seriously? you would believe the contents of Warner Bros letter when they stand to lose hundreds of millions of dollars ? they are trying to publicly lay a groundwork for their defense – they want to look innocent of any wrongdoing to an employee – they know public opinion is going to be an important part of this case – Chuck Lorre was too busy to write the episodes and used Charlie as an easy scapegoat out. You know he didnt want to take responsibility so found excuses in a scapegoat – i believe he did it on a number of occassions publicly with his “vanity cards” and he did it first. You know a lot of people watch that show. Thats pretty low.
So what would he have to do to be fired, kill one of the ho’s? Give it up, Charlie has FAILED !!
I hope that he wins.. I see no problem other than internal personality conflicts. His personal life is his own — obviously the rating have not been affected, the show is funny and he is the star.
I WISH his personal life WAS his own!
I think when someone sets up a Webcam at home, he gives up all rights to call his personal life his own. Unfortunately, I don’t think he’s EVER tried to keep his personal life his own.
Its really unfair for Charlie Sheen. Chuch Lorre is playing God.
The guy who got 1.5 million an episode wants 100 million…yep sounds about right.
If he would win this thing, I’d be interested to see if he actually distributes the other 88 million to the cast and crew he says he filed this suit for. (after taking the 12 million he’s supposedly due…)
Indeed. I really hope he gives at least 88 of the 100 mil to the rest of the cast & crew should his suit win, but maybe he’ll go above & beyond and only take 5-8 at most. Being the main star, he gets more than most of the rest of them combined likely.
I must have missed something…at 2 mil per episode, wouldn’t that be 48 mil for Charlie for 24 episodes?
Let us not forget that Charlie’s attorney will get the first 1/3 of any settlement Charlie would get.
utterly unlikely……… not from a disengenous sob.
I think it’s 32 episodes. The 8 from this season and 24 from next season. His salary, 1.8 million an episode, would be 56.6 million plus royalties.
THEY WERE SO STUPID TO PAY SOMEONE THAT .. SO STUPID ..
apparently if u didnt notice, he is suing not only for himself but the entire cast.
yeah except too little too late…CBS & Warner Bros already agreed to pay cast and crew for the dumped eps! So he just pulled those poor people into a suit they didn’t need to be in! Any judge who agrees with Sheen on any of those points should lose his robe! Warner Bros. was well within their rights to fire the guy…people get fired all the time and for much less I might add. It is not Lorre’s fault that Sheen decided to model himself after the character he plays on tv! Sheen was wrong and when his manic state comes to an end he is gonna feel like a fool! Go get some help you frickin idiot!
Charlie, it isn’t everyone else…it’s YOU!
Can someone make you a plaintiff in a non-class action litgation matter without your permission?
@mike — No, Sheen has no standing to sue for these other people without their joining the lawsuit. He shouldn’t be able to collect any damages on their behalf. Only each cast/crew member (or their legal representative or heir if they die) can collect for the damages that they have suffered.
Hey, can EW readers count as a lawsuit class? Then we can sue and get some money out of all this too. Have no idea what the grounds would be. But I have bills to pay, and it’s time to get creative.
Apparently you don’t realize that no one else has joined him in this lawsuit. By saying he is suing for them also he is only proving again what an egotistical fool he is. Every time he says ‘winning’ all I can think is – ‘loser’. Talk about being born with a silver spoon and single-handedly turning your life to shi+. A 45 yr old who looks 60 & sounds 12.
I dont’ imagine he’s drawn up the papers himself. The lawyer would have to have told him whether or not you can sue on someone’s behalf.
Yeah, because he already snorted and smoked all the money he’s previously made. Dude is probably almost broke.
No doubt he has gone thru the majority fo this money, all the alimony, LAWYERS are not cheap, how much are they billing him, the drugs, the houses, all of it $$$$$$$$ down the toilet, just like his career. Grab him and get him into a mental facility for some help.
According to the news, he has property and investments but no cash. I wonder why? Reportedly he is moving out of his house because it is too expensive and he is fighting with the homeowners association too.
Charlie better win this. It will be Hilarious! hahah! GO CHARLIE
Agreed, nail em for all you can Charlie!!
Charlie Sheen is my new hero!!!
Who the heck was your old one? Kanye West???
Let’s hear it for Phillip and his heroes in douchebaggery
Phillip, you don’t set the bar very high do you . . .
I so hope the jury foreman comes back with the verdict and says “losing!”
^ we have a winner! Thread closed.
Not gonna happen. He’s got tiger blood.
Well, you got a JURY made up on non-tiger blood people. So good look with that theory…
He’s a rock star from Uranus.
Hate to say it charlie is right about , warner bros knew what he was when they gave him the new contract , he made them tons of money
What’s your point exactly? He got paid a lot of money as well. It’s not like CBS and WB were making money hand over fist and he got nothing. He spent it all, and finally realized after getting fired that he needs them more than they need him.
Evidently, after the contract was signed he got worse.
No Charlie, the cast should be suing YOU for lost wages.
I guess u can’t does anything thing u want just don’t insult your bosses
sucking up is the name of the game
Do you speak from experience?
Do the cast and the crew know about this ?
if we know about this obviously they do too
Welcome to EW where it is Charlie Sheen and Lady Ca Ca all the time.
When Charlie is done with you it will be Charlie Brothers and Charlie Weekly…
uh……………. I don’t think so quit day dreaming.
winning
‘loser’
Sheen needs to just go away. Warner Bros just keep the lawsuit going until Sheen moves on to another world and do not give him a cent. He is a sorry excuse for a human being. Hopefully he will self destruct soon. Can we help that progress along?
agree L.D., he is an uneducated oaf and needs to go away
For being uneducated I think he has done well up to now.
Charlie is a drug addict in denial who will likely not be alive in the near future. Anyone who is supporting his behavior is an imbecile.
I do not think anyone is supporting his behaviour. He is sick man right now.But he did make them lots of money.
Remember the guy who lost it and got of the plane, beer in hand .. most thought that was just the best. (Blue Jet)
And…? He got paid a lot of money as well, so what’s your point?
Look like the only people supporting him now are those who are getting wasted with him.
Burn bridges, burn!!
I NEVER WATCHED TWO AND HALF MEN BECAUSE I CAN’T STAND HIM .. I DON’T KNOW HOW ANYMOE COULD SUPPORT THAT SHOW …