Charlie Sheen

About

Charlie Sheen is the stage name used by Carlos Irwin Estévez, an American actor most well-known for starring in a series of popular films and TV shows over the course of four decades since his on-screen debut in 1973. In addition to his celebrity fame in popular culture, various aspects of the actor's personal life have been intensely scrutinized by celebrity news sites and gossip blogs, mainly his marital problems, bouts of substance abuses and controversial statements he has publicly made following his scandalous departure from the American TV sitcom Two and a Half Men in 2011.

Acting Career

Charlie Sheen's film career unofficially began in the early 1970s with a minor character role in the 1973 American crime film Badlands, followed by two additional uncredited extra roles in The Execution of Private Slovik and Apocalypse Now, all of which starred his biological father and renowned Hollywood actor Martin Sheen in the lead role. In 1984, Sheen made his official debut as an actor with a supporting role in the Cold War teen drama Red Dawn and landed his first major role in Oliver Stone's 1986 American war drama film Platoon as Private Chris Taylor. In 1987, Sheen starred in Wall Street as Bud Fox, a young stockbroker who evolves into an opportunist under the guidance of Gordon Gekko (portrayed by Michael Douglas), a wealthy and ruthless corporate businessman. During the 1990s, Sheen continued to build on his fame by starring in a series of commercially successful comedy films, including Major League (1989), Hot Shots! (1991) and The Three Musketeers (1993), among several others. In 2003, Sheen was cast as Charlie Harper in the CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men, which went on to become one of the most popular and successful sitcoms of the decade. During his last two seasons on the show, Sheen was the highest paid actor on television with an earning of $1.8 million per episode.

History

Departure From Two and a Half Men

Charlie Sheen’s Rant refers to a series of controversial remarks made by actor Charlie Sheen on several radio and television interviews in late February 2011. The actor, who has been publicly struggling with substance addiction and scandalous partying habits, initially called in during The Alex Jones Show to rail against Chuck Lorre, the producer of long-running CBS sitcom Two and a Half Men. Since the actor’s decisive media blitz across major TV networks, Charlie Sheen’s memorable quotes inspired a variety of parodies on YouTube, Twitter and other hubsites.

ABC 20/20 Interview

On February 28th, 2011 Sheen appeared on a special edition of ABC’s 20/20, feeding his recent media scandals with more exploitable quotes while refusing to give an apology for his behaviors. The ABC interview gained its first million view within first 48 hours of upload, flooding YouTube and Tumblr with dozens of song parodies, mashups and image macros of Charlie Sheen.

Sheen's Korner

On March 5th, 2011, Charlie Sheen streamed a live video broadcast, a web show he called "Sheen's Korner". He publicized it on twitter shortly after hitting 1 million followers. The first episode had over 100,000 viewers:

My Violent Torpedo of Truth Tour

On March 10th, Charlie Sheen announced his plans for stand-up tour dubbed "My Violent Torpedo of Truth / Defeat is Not an Option" via Twitter. According to Ticketmaster's show details:

"My Violent Torpedo of Truth/Defeat is Not An Option Show is coming for you. I'm going on the road. LIVE. Will there be surprises? Will there be guests? Will there be mayhem? Will you ask questions? Will you laugh? Will you scream? Will you know the truth? WILL THERE BE MORE?!?! 
This IS where you will hear the REAL story from the Warlock. Bring it. I dare you to keep up with me."

On April 2nd, Sheen performed his inaugural show at Fox Theater in Detroit, receiving mixed reviews from the audience. The press critics also chimed in on the mediocrity of Sheen's stand-up performance, noting that the presentation was unorganized and his jokes borderline offensive, such as his insensitive jab at Detroit's notorious crack cocaine epidemic.

Comedy Central Roast

In addition to his stand-up comedy tour, Sheen has also guest starred as the subject of Comedy Central stand-up program Roast, which aired at 10 p.m. (ET) on September 20th, at time same time as the new season premier of his old gig Two and a Half Men. Reuters reported that the viewers will be able to track related conversations in real time through Comedy Central's own dashboard website and two Twitter hashtags #SheenRoast and #CrazyTrain.

The 90-minute special program featured a line-up of roast comedians Seth MacFarlane, Jon Lovitz, Kate Walsh, Jeff Ross, Anthony Jeselnik, Amy Schumer, William Shatner, Patrice O'Neal among others and professional boxer Mike Tyson also appeared as a guest roaster. Comedy Central also promoted Roast of Charlie Sheen via its website, where a timeline dashboard for the televised event was set up for the viewers to keep track of trending tweets and hashtags in reference to the program. At the end of the roast, Sheen had the following to say: "I’m done with the winning cause I’ve already won."

"Once again I have come out unscathed. You can't hurt me. Hell, even I can't hurt me. Did you really think your little jokes were going to hurt me? I did porn stars. I did drugs. Then I did the one thing everybody in America wishes he could do. I told my boss to (expletive) off. And then it was gone. … I'm done with 'the winning' because I've already won."

Online Presence

Twitter

On March 1st, 2011, Charlie Sheen (@CharlieSheen) joined Twitter. In just over 24 hours, he gained 1 million followers, which was reported as “the fastest in Twitter’s history” by Guinness World Records. Notable Charlie Sheen quotes like “Tiger blood” and “Winning” also emerged as trending hashtags. According to Forbes' blog article “The Real Story Behind Charlie Sheen Joining Twitter,” Sheen’s sudden venture into Twitter was advised by a team of experts at Ad.ly, a small Beverly Hills start-up that focuses on celebrity endorsements via Facebook and Twitter. On December 7th, Charlie Sheen published a tweet that included his cell phone number followed by “Call me bro. C.” The message was immediately removed, but within hours videos began showing up on YouTube of prank calls to the number.

Parodies

Remixes

At the beginning of March 2011, the day after Charlie's interview with ABC 20/20, parodies and musical tributes to Charlie Sheen's ridiculous remarks started to pop up on YouTube. One of the earliest examples was posted on March 1st by Brooklyn-based indie band Apollo Run, a soft ballad tribute to Charlie Sheen's rant with lyrics based on his 20/20 interview responses.

Image Macros

On MemeGenerator, 4chan and elsewhere, Charlie Sheen's rant spawned dozens of image macros.

Sheen Family Circus, a website which combined Charlie Sheen's quotes with Family Circus cartoons, appeared on February 28th, 2011. This was followed by BuzzFeed's post "Charlie Sheen Quotes As New Yorker Cartoons."

A single serving website called LiveTheSheenDream once provided a Charlie Sheen Quote random generator, but it is no longer available.

On February 24th, 2011, comedy writer Francesco Marciuliano began combining quotes from Charlie Sheen's media appearances with pictures of cats. "Baby Sloth Quotes Charlie Sheen" was further propagated by BuzzFeed on February 28th.

Personal Life

NBC Today Interview

On November 17th, 2015, Charlie Sheen appeared on NBC Today to reveal that he was diagnosed as HIV positive approximately four years ago, describing the discovery of his incurable condition as "three hard letters to absorb."

“I am here to admit that I am in fact HIV positive and I have to put a stop to this onslaught, this barrage of attacks, of sub-truths – very harmful … stories that are threatening the health of so many others.”

In the exclusive interview with Matt Lauer of NBC Today, Sheen stated that he wanted to publicly disclose his health condition to end "a smear campaign and extortion efforts" that he has been facing from a number of his acquaintants who began blackmailing him to keep the actor's illness a secret from the public. According to Sheen, he has paid out upwards of $10 million to an undisclosed number of people whom he had previously considered to be his confidants.

"I trusted them and they were deep in my inner circle, and I thought they could be helpful. My trust turned to their treason."

When asked by Lauer how he may have contracted the virus, Sheen responded that he wasn't “entirely sure” but insisted it was "impossible" that he would have knowingly transmitted the virus to others. In addition, the actor admitted to having unprotected intercourse with two people after the diagnosis, both of whom were apparently informed of his condition and have been under the care of his doctor. In addition, Dr. Robert Huizenga, the actor's physician, stated that although Sheen has contracted the virus, he went on to stress that the daily cocktail of antiretroviral medications has suppressed its effects to a "barely detectable" degree with a “very, very low risk for transmitting to anyone" and he does not have AIDS.

Celebrity Reactions

Some celebrities, like Sheen's longtime friend Piers Morgan, asked viewers not to "crucify" Sheen for his HIV+ status; "He's doing that to himself," Morgan said in a column in The Daily Mail.^[30] Heather Locklear, an actress who was a contemporary of Sheen's, wrote on her Instagram that "My heart hurts. Prayers for Charlie and his family."^[31] Magic Johnson, a former basketball player who has also been diagnosed with HIV, wrote "I wish @CharlieSheen and his family the best. With the advancement in treatments and medicine he can fight this disease and live a long life."^[32]

Others were not so positive towards Sheen. The actor's ex-girlfiend, adult entertainment actress Bree Olson, tweeted shortly after the Today Show interview that she was getting an HIV test.^[33] The results were negative, and Olson claimed later on the Howard Stern show that Sheen had never revealed to her that he had HIV, even though their relationship took place immediately prior to his diagnosis.^[34] As of November 17th, 2015, six different women were planning to sue Sheen for not revealing that he was HIV+ before they engaged in intercourse without protection.^[35]

Search Interest

External References