Step aside, Mel, Nicholas, and Lindsay – there’s a new crazy celebrity in town. That’s right, Charlie Sheen has been dominating the news and entering a new crazy-town territory where no celebrity has gone before.
If you haven’t been following the Life and Times of Charlie Sheen, here’s a quick update: he was arrested in Oct. 2010 after consuming a boatload of drugs and trashing a hotel room he shared with his porn star girlfriend. Then, in late January, he began rehabilitation treatment in his home, which put his sit-com “Two and a Half Men” on hiatus. Most recently, on March 7, Sheen was officially fired from his position on the show.
By late February, in an interview with NBC’s Jeff Rossen, Sheen demanded a 50-percent-raise to his salary on the show, though he was already the highest-paid actor on television, receiving about $1.8 million per episode.
“I’ll even do season ten, but at this point, because of psychological distress, it’s three million an episode, take it or leave it,” Sheen said. “I’m underpaid right now . . . [and] I’m tired of pretending like I’m not special.”
During this interview and others, such as with Good Morning America on Feb. 28, Sheen appeared manic and unwell. When asked why he was not worried that he would relapse, Sheen responded, “Because I’m not going to. Period. The end. I blinked and I cured my brain, that’s how. ‘Can’t’ is the cancer of ‘happen.’”
In the letter from Warner Bros. Studio to Sheen’s lawyer Marty Singer, the studio outlined the reasons for Sheen’s dismissal.
“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. Warner Bros. would not, could not, and should not attempt to continue ‘business as usual’ while Mr. Sheen destroys himself as the world watches.”
Finally, a consquence for Sheen’s clear disregard for societal morals and rules.
Within the past month, my main issue with the extensive news coverage of Sheen was that we’ve seen this downward spiral before – whether with the child-actor-turned-drug-addict in Lindsay Lohan, or the DUI-rampages of Mel Gibson. And yet there were still copious interviews with Sheen on actual news channels as if this is something unique or worth caring about.
Why are people fascinated by celebrity train wrecks? I have to admit that I find Sheen’s insanity quite entertaining, but I’m ashamed because I can’t pinpoint the reason. Perhaps we just want to prove that a “boring, normal life” (Sheen’s words, not mine) is actually better than that of those with fame and fortune. Or perhaps we just enjoy hearing absurd, rambling but ultimately humorous catchphrases (like “Can’t is the cancer of happen”).
But has anyone checked if he has a shrink?
As columnist Daniel O’Brien asked on his pop-culture blog, “I’m all for a good celebrity meltdown, but should we as a society do something? Are we just going to watch this forever?”
As a society, we should be providing better care for people that cannot seem handle themselves, or at least real consequences for their actions, rather than staring wide-eyed or laughing carelessly at them. Now that we’ve proved that fame is not all it’s cracked up to be, we should be a little more careful about what we consider “worth watching.”
